


Starset

by sasha_bo



Series: Starset [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Dragon Stiles, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-21
Updated: 2015-03-31
Packaged: 2018-03-02 17:00:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 32,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2819570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sasha_bo/pseuds/sasha_bo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Paranormals of all shapes and sizes now freely exsist in the open and cohabit towns with humans. Somehow Derek was the one para who ended up with a dragon shifter stalker. A dragon shifter stalker who is the worst stalker to ever stalk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

When paranormals were exposed to the world, immediately the fears of segregation, war and dystopia ran rampant throughout society and for a while those fears looked as though they would become reality. Hunter groups campaigned against equal rights and advocated for restrictions and mandatory registration for each and every supernatural.

 

What they didn’t account for, however, was the unequivocal scope of supernatural beings that existed not only in their towns but in the world at large. Species that were considered myths and legends were apparently real and alive: species who were valued members of their community with no plans to take over the world.

 

When the extent of their reach was realised, the perception of the general public was mostly on the side of the paranormals. Partly because nobody wanted to back a bill which would take away their friends and family and partly due to past reminders of what atrocities occurred last time a sector of society was quarantined and deemed to be a stain on humanity. It had taken centuries to remove the bigamy which was substantial when it came to age, race, sexual orientation and religion. The majority of people were reluctant to take a step back in human development and wanted to show that this was no different.

 

Back when the days of enlightenment occurred and the subsequent decade’s later, things hadn’t been smooth sailing between the paras and the humans but over time, a healthy compromise had been reached and both sides lived in harmony - most of the time.

 

There were still factions on both sides of the spectrum who thought they were better than the other but most of these groups were demolished with efficiently. While opinions varied from person to person, most agreed that the last thing they wanted was a war. A war which would pit friend against friend. Family against family.

 

In countries all over the world, governments and services separated into two separate states: one for the humans and one for the paras. Both worked together for the benefit of the people but it was quickly acknowledged that things like the police force would have to change. An establishment for paras to deal with paranormal issues and one for humans. It had taken time but eventually, the world seemed to settle into an equilibrium between everybody.

 

Para’s could walk down the street without fear that they would be lynched and humans could live without fear that the para’s would rise up and make them a footnote in history. It wasn’t perfect but it provided enough comfort for everybody to get along.

 

Other than that, life continued as it did before the enlightenment. People worked. People shopped. People got drunk. People lived. It was just now that there was more understanding of other beings and what they could do. For example, it was widely known that you should take everything a pixie said with a pinch of salt and to steer clear of were’s around the full moon.

 

Beacon Hills was one of the first places in the States to openly accept para’s and was known as an area of refuge. The nemeton drew para’s of all shapes and sizes to the town but still there was a healthy mix of paras and humans. Just taking a stroll around one of main streets, it was clear to see just how open the paras lived. Next to the bakery run by Mrs Houster was a shop which specilised in eyewear for Gorgons - It took a long time for doctors to de-stonify people if they caught the girl’s eyes so special glasses were a must.

Next to the human bar was a blood bar for the local vamps and restaurants were dotted around the town that catered to wolves, selkies and dwarfs to name but a few.

 

Derek supposed that this was one of the reasons why nobody really left Beacon Hills. The town always had something new to unveil, new paras to discover. It seemed to be that each new inhabitant of the town was something different. Just last month, he heard that a Dragur had moved into the house next to the town graveyard. While he is sure the para is a nice enough guy, he generally steered clear of paras which were considered to be part of the undead. They freaked him out.

 

Not that he had to try hard to keep away from them considering he barely left the house. That and the fact that any time he did venture into town the paras seemed to give him a wide berth on their own meant that, mostly, he had limited contact with the world.

 

He liked that. Screw Laura, he didn’t need friends.

 

The world may have been more accepting then it had been before the enlightenment but in the world of the paranormals, stereotyping and suspicion of other species still occurred and Derek knew that within their community he was considered an outsider.

 

A wolf that was anti-social and apathetic. A wolf that was in a pack of two. A wolf who was responsible for wiping out his entire family.

 

Everybody and their mother knew the story. A tale they told their children to steer them in the right direction. The tale of the wolf who fell in love with a hunter – an anti-para - and paid the price with the lives of his pack.

 

Thanks to Derek and his stupidity, only he and Laura were the sole survivors of the Hale pack. Many now considered him a token of bad luck, a dark omen who brought murder and deceit to their little town. Once the Argent hunters had been driven out of town by an angry mob, the mistrust soon turned onto the boy who may have turned against his own kind.

 

Laura tried to fight his corner but ultimately the damage was done. The rumor spread and the repute hung over him like a black cloud to darken with each new intake into the town. Another person to hear about what he did.

 

The only plus side about his reputation was that while he was vilified and hated, Laura was esteemed and adored. The girl with the brother who ruined her life. The girl who now had to live with the consequences of his actions.

 

He was morose and dark, Laura was full of life. Derek sequestered himself in his home, Laura was prevalent within the community. With other families the juxtaposition between the two would have driven them apart but for them they were stronger for it. Laura led and Derek followed. A big sister guiding her little brother. An Alpha commanding her Beta.

 

They made it work. After the fire he and Laura re-built the house, determined to not be driven away from their land and home. Derek worked with his hands and trained himself in carpentry while Laura worked at the local police station. Using a false name, Derek’s creations sold well within the town after orders and requests came in through Laura. People scrambled for the one-of-a-kind fixtures but Derek knew that if they caught wind of exactly who was the one behind the work, everything would probably be tossed out and erected into a bonfire.

 

Currently he was working on a birch foot-rest for the troll who was one of the bouncers for Jungle when pounding footsteps vibrated through the house. Derek sighed as he put his sander down.

 

Laura always forgot to close the front door when she got herself overexcited.

 

“Derek you will never fucking believe what we have now!!”

 

If there was one thing people needed to realise was that Laura loved to gossip. Unfortunately for Derek, Laura mostly loved to gossip with him. He thinks it’s partly because she wanted him to feel more involved in town life and partly because she knew he wasn’t the type to repeat what she said. Mainly because he had nobody else to tell.

 

He moved deeper into the workshop, putting his sander away as the alpha ran into the room, hair wild and eyes glistening with excitement.

 

“What?” Derek stated in a dead tone, hoping she would get the hint that he didn’t care but knowing from experience that she would just ignore him. She did it when they were younger and would probably still do it when they were old and gray.

 

“A fuckin dragon. We have a dragon in Beacon Hills!”

 

Derek rolled his eyes as he bent to examine his newest piece, critically assessing the finish. “And?”

 

Silence greeted his proclamation. He didn’t need to look up to know that Laura was giving him her version of a stink eye mixed with a you-are-stupid look. A look that was fully reserved for her little brother.

 

“…..it’s a dragon Derek. Did you even know they were real?!”

 

Derek sighed as he stood up, twisting his back as he walked past her and out of the workshop. “We live in a town that has a family of Chimaera’s who run the local deli. You arrested a Furie last week for trying to beat her cheating partner to death with a bag of lettuce and you are really surprised that a dragon exists and has decided to move into town?”

 

Laura snorted as she tailed her brother into the kitchen. “Yeah ok when you put it like that…anyway shut up. I’m excited. Stop trying to ruin things for me.”

 

Derek turned to face her as he took two bottles of water from the fridge, throwing one to her. “Where is it living? Aren’t dragons meant to be huge?”

 

He rolled his eyes as his sister clapped her hands in excitement. “That’s the thing. He takes human form like we do.”

 

“How do you know this?”

 

“He is the sheriff’s son.”

 

Derek regarded his enthusiastic sister. If she was a wolf right now her tail would be wagging like crazy. “You never mentioned your boss was a dragon shifter.”

 

Shrugging her shoulders, Laura replied “That’s because he isn’t. John is human but Stiles is a dragon.” The force was split into human officers and para officers but John was the boss man who was in charge of both sets of police.

 

Derek snorted as he muttered to himself. “Who names their kid Stiles? Stupid name.”

 

Laura waved her hand in his direction. “That’s neither here or there. What matters now is we have a dragon in town. A dragon who has just finished college who will now be working on his horde…”

 

“His what now?”

 

The Derek-is-special look was back in full force.

 

“Derek…..you seriously cannot be this stupid.”

 

He sent his sister an incredulous glare. “Up until half an hour ago you didn’t believe they existed and you’re giving me grief because I don’t know anything about them?”

 

Laura sighed in exasperation as she rubbed her hands over her face. “Ok listen dick face, dragon’s horde. They collect things and keep them. We are obsessed with the moon, they are obsessed with what catches their eye. They will have their own little hide out where they will keep their things. As they get older, they collect more and start to build up their horde as their obsession grows. That is what matters to them and they will do anything once a piece catches their eye. They like unique things, it does something to them to know that they have a one of a kind object.”

 

“…..so what does this have to do with me?”

 

Laura chucked her bottle of water at him. Rude.

 

“You make unique pieces. We get this dragon on side then we are set for life and he isn’t going to care about who you are. Just what you can do.”

 

Derek wasn’t afraid to admit that he was still firmly on the side of confusion. He often felt like this when Laura came up with a plan.

 

“…..your point?”

 

Laura’s features turned serious. “My point is that you can stop hiding. Stop pretending to be someone you are not and get credit for what you do! You can do what you love and you will finally be able to stand up and say ‘I did this. I made that’.”

 

Derek regarded his sister. “You’re serious about this aren’t you?”

 

“YES! Derek look….It isn’t fair and it kills me. I am tired of you hiding what you do because of who people think you are. You are so talented and it isn’t fair that people don’t realise who is behind this because you are afraid of what their reaction will be. Look, just give me something you have made to take into work and we can work from there….what have we got to lose?”

 

Derek sighed as he realised he had lost this argument. Luckily for Laura, he had something up his sleeve to give to the dragon.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for the support.

Apparently when the dragon was given his gift, he examined it then proclaimed that “It smells really good. My horde is going to smell amazing with this….”

 

Derek didn’t quite know how to feel about this evaluation. He was pleased the dragon liked it. He was pleased when anyone liked something he did but…..yeah seemingly the best thing about the small wolf figurine Laura had given the man was its smell. Not the craftsmanship. Not the attention to detail. No, it was the smell.

 

Laura just shrugged her shoulders when Derek questioned the sanity of the dragon. “Meah Stiles is weird. I don’t know if it because he is a dragon and they are weird or if it is just him but yeah, accept the complement.”

 

So as a reward to Derek for his hard work, Laura had ordered him to go into town and do the weekly shop. He was going to have to work on what his sister deemed as a reward because this? This was hell for Derek.

 

He hated going into town at the best of times, never mind a place where there was a gathering of people at all times of the day. Part of him was angry whenever he was within the public domain. Becoming part of a world that was supposed to be more tolerant, more accepting but somehow he was still excluded. Then part of him remembered what he had done. Was it any wonder people didn’t like him? People who glared at him, murmured and insulted him under their breaths knowing full well he could hear them. He wanted to be one of those people who could let it slide but try as he may, he couldn’t.

 

The town had developed so much, even in the years since the Hale fire and the child within him was just as excited as he was when he was younger – when he had a family.

 

Derek loved seeing newer paras when they established themselves into town life, species which he had never seen before.

 

He will always remember the day when a new aquatic center and swimming pool had opened. He would have only been 7 but he had begged his mom to let Laura take him down to see the variety of users. The aquatic center had been split into two sections: a pool for sea-based paras and one for fresh water ones. Humans could use either one so it wasn’t uncommon for a human family to be swimming alongside a mermaid shifter. Derek himself had hitched a ride with a Morgawr who had sworn blind she was a direct descendant from the loch ness monster.

 

Derek loved it. He loved watching these people from all walks of life shift into something mythological, something other worldly. Something like him, even if he was considered average.

 

Within the para world - just like in the human world - there was an unspoken hierarchy so to speak. Many of the older and more ancient species had adapted to shifters in order to accommodate for human development. Within their world, people like wolf shifters were considered boring. Now somebody who could shift into an Orthros – that was impressive. They were the ones who could live in the open.

 

When the day of enlightenment arrived, the para species who were unable to shift soon made themselves known. Giants, gremlins and all sorts of other paras were soon spotted but even after the enlightenment the larger paras kept away from civilisation. Not out of fear but out of necessity. A Kraken for example couldn’t survive outside the oceans and a Minotaur who couldn’t shift would struggle to live within the confines of city life.

 

They were all finally free to live how nature intended but segregation and pack mentality was still prevalent within their society. With such a diverse sect of people, it was always going to happen however there was always a common theme within most paras. They were all one, together and united.

 

Walking into the store, it seemed like everybody stopped what they were doing to just look at Derek. The murderer. The low wolf shifter who had gone against nature, against paras and against his family. It was hard to fight against public perception when part of you believed they were right.

 

Steeling himself, he picked up a basket and started making his way down the aisles, throwing food items in as he stared straight ahead. He had learnt a while ago not to make eye contact with others. If he couldn’t see the people looking at him with venom in their eyes then he could pretend it wasn’t happening, that he wasn’t disliked.

 

He was only halfway down the first aisle when he felt….he isn’t sure what but it was different. When he was in public, he always had a chill down his back when people stopped and stared at him but this…this was weird, like his back was on fire.

 

Turning around abruptly, he scrutinised anyone that was close to him, weary of any threat. The movement produced the reactions he expected….men snorted and smirked at him in contempt, mothers pushed their children in the opposite direction and the mutters started but Derek’s eyes narrowed at the sight of a man who paid him no attention.

 

It really said something about his life when the most suspicious man in the store was the one who was apparently giving serious study to the cantaloupe in his hand.

 

Picking up the basket, Derek steadied himself against the scrutiny as carried on into the next aisle. As he turned into the third aisle, the heated feeling returned. He made it down to the end before the heat started to become overwhelming: to the point where Derek had to find the source. Unlike last time, it was only him and another man in the vicinity. Reviewing the man – his stalker - who had decided to attempt to hide by simply covering his face by blocking it out with a box of tampons, Derek realised that tampon man and cantaloupe man were in fact the same. Feeling the unease rise, he hurried through his shopping.

 

Each and every time he glanced behind his shoulder, the stranger seemed to put less and less effort into hiding his attempts at following the wolf. In between trying to hide behind a teddy bear and then later a baguette, Derek became less threatened and more amused.

 

If anything it distracted him from everybody else and Derek - as much as he loathed to do - was slightly thankful for that.

 

As he pulled up to the checkout, he noticed that his stalker had decided to retreat and leave him alone. He didn’t have time to dwell as he was next up. Placing his groceries down in front of the older woman, Derek waited as the woman slowly scanned his items and began bagging them. He had learnt his lesson early on about buying fragile things such as eggs. They were always placed at the bottom of the bag and broken before he had even left the store.

 

Determined to not show any emotion, he continued to stare out the window, feeling like everything was about to close in on him.

 

“Mommy?” A child’s whisper broke through his blank thoughts. “That’s the bad wolf from the stories.”

 

Derek turned towards the voice. The look of horror on a small child’s face and the anger from the mother at his presence upsetting her child made him turn back to the cashier and placed his money on the counter. He knew fine well he had given her too much but it was worth it to get his things and leave.

 

A large presence appeared at his side.

 

“Wolf we are going to have to ask you to leave. You are upsetting my customers.”

 

Nodding his head without ever looking up at the man, Derek grabbed his bags before walking out the shop, ignoring the aroma of smoke which had quickly filled up the store. Throwing himself into his car, he took a moment to breathe.

 

He wanted to laugh. This always happened when he came into town and he should be used to it by now.

 

Starting the vehicle, he glanced back at the shop. While he expected to be confronted with shoppers watching to see if he had left, he was met with what looked like disorganized chaos. Workers and customers were scrambling out the door as people ran about with fire extinguishers. He caught the tale end of a “cereal packets do not just randomly set themselves on fire” comment before he drove out the parking lot.

 

That will probably be blamed on him as well.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Derek was chopping wood when Laura came back from work with a spring in her step and a smile on her face. That automatically set him on edge.

 

Last time this happened, Laura was 16 and had come up with the brilliant plan that she just HAD to buy a waxing kit and Derek HAD to be her ‘client’. For three weeks he had to play basketball with one hairy and one smooth leg.

 

The grow back was a bitch.

 

So he could be forgiven for greeting her with a simple “No”.

 

She stopped in front of him, an indignant look on her face. “Wh…just because I’m happy means I have dark plans for you? What kind of sister do you take me for?!”

 

“MY sister.”

 

She snorted in his direction before turning to face the woodland which stretched the back of the house. “Yeah ok, you have a point but not this time. I will have you know that I – Laura ‘spinster and potential cat lady’ Hale – have a date!”

 

Derek legitimately smiled at his sister. It had been years since she had gone on a date. He would know. Not a day has gone by that she hasn’t informed him of that fact.

 

She said it was because there was nobody to date. He knew it was because of who she was and who she was related to.

 

So to say he had suddenly – just that second - developed an interest in his sisters social life was understandable “Who is he? What does he do?”

 

For the first time in a while his brash sister seemed to become shyer, a shadowy blush crossing her face. “He is the new deputy at the station. Jordan Parrish. He is a Phoenix shifter.”

 

“Is it wise to date someone you work with?”

 

Laura shoved him over. “Shut up doofus. He is nice and good looking. I’m looking forward to it so just….support me ok?”

 

Derek hesitated, fighting against his instincts to protect not only his alpha but also his sister. Wrapping an arm around her shoulder and bringing her into a hug, he placed a kiss on her forehead. “I’m happy for you. I’m sure he is nice and if he dicks you about the whole town will be after him.”

 

Laura sighed as she pressed further into her brother, wrapping her arms around his waist as she gave an exaggerated sigh. “Sadly, my position as number one favorite and most loved resident of the Hills has been taken away from me.”

 

“How?” Derek had taken to resting his chin on top of her head, happy with the contact his alpha was giving him.

 

“Our little dragon has stolen the hearts of the nation. Or the nation of Beacon Hills. Whatever.” Laura broke off the hug as she linked her arm around Derek’s and led him back into the house. “Between him being so uncommon and having the personality of an adorable spaz, he is cannon fodder for the paras and humans of the town. They love him.”

 

Derek took a seat in the kitchen as Laura set about making food as she carried on rambling.

 

“You should have seen him today. Came bursting in to the station and kept telling everybody that he has found his horde piece…” She quickly glanced up before she slammed down the knife she was using in reply to the blank gaze Derek was giving her. “Do you not know anything?!? Jesus Christ I feel like I have failed you. For Dragons, they have their horde but their horde piece is like…..their crown jewel. Their most prized possession. John said Dragons, back in the day, have gone to war over horde pieces.”

 

Derek was skeptical. “And he found this magical horde piece…..in Beacon Hills? Does he have low standards? How does he decide anyway?”

 

Laura shrugged as she resumed chopping any food stuff she could get her hands on. “I dunno. John said they just see it and they know. Different dragons have different things that appeal to them so there is no method as to what makes a dragon’s horde and what doesn’t. All that he really said was that dragons are possessive over things they consider as being theirs.”

 

Derek shifted in his seat as his interest began to grow. He knew nothing about dragons but was starting to become engrossed in the topic. “Does he breathe fire?”

 

Laura nodded “When he wants to apparently. His dad said he is just like us. Heightened emotion will bring out his dragon but he can control it quite well. He can breathe and create fire when he wants so John saves a fortune on heating bills.”

 

Derek regarded his sister. “How do you know so much about this?”

 

Laura paused as she fully focused on the other wolf. “John had to give us a talk about Stiles to try and inform us and the town of what we and they can and cannot do. At the end of the day, he is a para species that is unusual so people, like yourself, won’t know what they have to avoid.”

 

“So tell me, oh wise deputy, what do we mere mortals have to look out for with this dragon?”

 

Laura snorted as she gave Derek the finger. “No stealing from him. At all. Ever. Apparently there was a case near Oslo where someone stole a horde piece from the local dragon and she nearly destroyed the city. She was not pleased in the slightest and there is nothing worse than having a rampaging dragon on your hands. The only reason it didn’t make the news was because the town where it happened knew that the thief brought it on himself. Stiles is a smart guy but gets very…primitive when it comes to his horde. John said that if something new randomly appears at the station its best to leave it alone incase his kid has decided to bring part of his collection with him. If we see him in the woods we just need to leave him be and if we see a massive dragon flying overhead to not shoot it. Dragon Stiles does not appreciate being shot at. Other than that things should be ok.”

 

Derek laughed. “On the bright side, the crime rate for stealing is about to dramatically decrease. Yes the potential for a fire has risen but that’s the risk you take with a fire-breathing dragon. May i suggest a career change from the police to the fire brigade? Now Im not one of the fates but even I can predict that the station will be looking for new recruits in the near future...”

 

"Fuck off Derek, I rock the police uniform much better."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Morgawr: creature similar to the loch ness monster
> 
>  
> 
> Orthros: two headed dog


	3. Chapter 3

The house was quiet. Eerily quiet and Derek didn’t like it. He would never get used to the Hale home being silent. Growing up, the majority of his family either lived here or spent so much time there that they could really have just moved in and nobody would have noticed.

 

It was unusual for a wolf shifter to be alone but unfortunately that was exactly what Derek was. Alone.

 

He knew the day would come where Laura would leave and honestly he wanted it to happen. He wanted his sister to have the life she was always meant to have. She was always honest about wanting a husband and a family, an ambition which never wavered and was just as strong as it had been when she was 8 and had forced Derek to marry her to his friend at the time.

 

Personally for Derek, he could do without. He had accepted a long time ago that family and children were not part of his make-up, being gay would also be a barrier. Or possibly gay. Mostly gay. Perhaps bi. Semantics really.

 

He was never sure why he didn’t confide in his family about the confusion he had when he was a teenager. He knew they would accept him for who he was but still, he kept silent. Not out of shame but really because he never gave it much thought. He was who he was and he liked what he liked. At that age he pretty much liked everything.

 

He was around 14 when he realised that his tastes were different from most of his friends. Don’t get him wrong, he liked women to a point. He just liked guys more. None of it subtracted the feelings he had for Kate.

 

At that time, he really did love her.

 

However since the fire, most of his experience catered towards men. Not that he had a lot of experiences mind but still. When he felt the urge he would drive a couple of hours away, go to a bar and hook up with someone. Someone who didn’t know who he was.

He could be forgiven for letting his mind run as he thought back to his days of youth and letting his guard down.

 

His guard which snapped back into place when he heard a snap of a twig outside his front room window. Staying seated, he muted the TV as he narrowed his gaze in the direction of the sounds, unsheathing his claws. Nobody was going to break into his home, not again.

 

Straining to hear any hints as to what he was about to deal with, he came to a possible two conclusions:

 

  1.        He was dealing with two very powerful shifters who had no fear of the wolf enclosed in the house.
  2.        He was dealing with two incredibly stupid burglars.



 

 

It wasn’t as if the wolf was knowledgeable about the methodology for breaking and entering however even he knew that if you were scoping out a potential hit, stealth and silence were pivotal.

 

It just also happened to be the two key components that his would-be-felons lacked in abundance.

 

“You see him?” came a pathetically awful attempt at whispering.

 

The other person sighed. “No. You know why? Even I can’t see through curtains dude.”

 

“….I can always burn them down? There, problem solved” Derek tensed, panic spreading at what may be about to happen.

 

“NO!” the other yelled, temporarily forgetting about volume. “Don’t be a moron. Don’t you remember what happened here? Burning things to get your way is a no-no.”

 

A snort was issued in reply. “Stupid rule. It seriously impedes my plans. Ok no burning, this is simply a reconnaissance mission.”

 

There was a shuffle and a slight pause. “….You know if mom finds out she is going to kill me yeah? As a matter of fact, she will also kill you.”

 

Some more shuffling. “Yeeeah that is true. On the bright side, we are grown-ups now, she can’t ground us.”

 

“She probably could.”

 

“Yeah she definitely will. Ok so….what now?”

 

More shuffling and the sound of something slapping against fabric. “That was your idea! You seriously did not think this through?!”

 

“Scott, when have I ever steered you wrong?”

 

“8th grade when you told me I could totally clear the jump from your roof to the house three doors down. I didn’t.”

 

“Minor miscalculation.”

 

“10th grade when you told me girls liked it when you sang to them to try and get them to go on a date. Missy Pegg laughed at me then posted the video on youtube. I still didn’t get my date”

 

“Personally it was the song choice. Who sings ‘Girlfriend’ to someone in a cafeteria full of students?”

 

“Last week when you made me drink 30 espressos to see what would happen. I still don’t feel right man.”

 

Derek had decided that enough was enough. While he was glad that the threat was nullified by abject stupidity, he was tired and wanted to go to bed.

 

Speaking at full volume, he addressed the two failed ninja thieves “You do realise I can hear you both. Very clearly.”

 

“……Did you hear all of that?” came a timid voice from outside.

 

Derek wondered why they were not fleeing for their lives. He had obviously lost his intimidation factor.

“Yes.”

 

There was a murmur which sounded suspiciously like an ‘oh shit’ before the wolf was addressed again. “I would like you to be made aware of the fact that I am not childish despite what you are heard tonight. I am a very manly-man who can make grown up and very well thought out decisions.”

 

“You have exactly two minutes to get away from my house before I come out and use your guts as a skipping rope.”

 

It wasn’t long before he heard a shuffling followed by sprinting footsteps away from the house. He gave it a few minutes before he ventured outside and inspected the area in front of the window.

 

The scent of another wolf came secondary to the smell of cinnamon and smoke. A scent which gave him comfort instead of fear.

 

The aroma was still lodged in his brain when Laura came back from her date. Derek had reclaimed his seat in front of the TV by the time she had burst through the door and thrown herself over his lap, encasing his head in a tight hug.

 

He was legitimately starting to fear for his ability to breathe as his alpha held him tight.

 

He managed to wheeze out “Good date?”

 

If anything, she squeezed his head even tighter. “Oh my god, it was amazing. He took me to dinner at that Seer restaurant. I’m telling you, dining without having to place an order and having what you like brought to you straight away is the way forward. After that he took me to see the will ‘o’ wisp show then to the unicorn sanctuary. So romantic.”

 

Finally Laura decided that Derek deserved to breathe and let go of his neck but however made no movements to vacate her personal wolf shifter seat.

 

He smiled tenderly at his sister. “It’s nice to see you smile like that again.”

 

He was rewarded with his burst of kindness with a painful punch on the shoulder. “Don’t be a cheese ball.” She hesitated as she fiddled with the fabric of her top, refusing to look up at her brother. “He wants to meet you.”

 

He gently pushed Laura off of him as he rose from his seat. “Why?”

 

“Because he likes me and he knows that you are important to me?”

 

Derek shook his head. “It’s been one date Laura…”

 

She waved her hand in his general direction as if Derek wasn’t speaking sense. “We have been friends for a while, since he moved here in fact. It isn’t like this is a total stranger…”

 

“He is a stranger to me Laura.”

 

She sighed as she rose to stand in front of her beta. “Look, Jordan is a good guy. The best in fact and he has always said he wanted to meet you because I talk about you all the time and I really think you two would get on.”

 

Derek sighed, knowing that he had once again lost the battle. “Fine.”

 

Laura’s shoulders sagged in relief as she began to walk away, heels clinking on the hardwood floor. “Oh thank god, I thought for a second I was going to have to properly lay on the guilt trip. Anyway he is part of the horde so he has to be trust worthy right? Apparently dragons have amazing instincts….”

 

Derek stood still before he followed his – apparently suicidal – sister up the stairs. “Horde….he is part of the horde?! Are you stupid?!”

 

She turned to face him halfway up the stairs. “No but I’m sure you are going to impart your Mensa-level intelligence and tell me why just so I can prove you wrong…”

 

Derek stood firm. “Ok 1. I scored higher in my SAT’s so I am smarter, sarcasm will not disprove that. 2. You were the one who told me what they get like with their Horde piece and you expect me to be ok with you dating something the dragon has claimed?”

 

“Ok 1. Your test was easier than mine, everybody knows that and 2. Jordan is part of his horde. He isn’t his horde piece, there is a difference. Stiles was actually the one to push Jordan to ask me out so there you go.”

 

“Can people even be part of a Dragons horde?” he questioned.

 

“Yeah. John is part of Stiles’ horde and so are a few other people. I’m not quite sure how it works but Jordan and some other paras are part of it. He said the protection it gives him is worth its weight in gold, nobody will hurt John or Jordan because of his connections to Stiles. Just like how the guy will go mental if someone steals from him, he will do the same if somebody hurts his human horde members.”

 

“Any criteria for a para to become part of a horde?” Derek asked as uncertainty built in his stomach. An Alpha werewolf would theoretically be a great addition to a horde.

 

“Not really I don’t think. Stiles seems to like unusual paras. He already has a Phoenix, a Banshee and a Kitsune. Also his friend who is an Alpha like me but I think he is part of it because he and Stiles grew up together rather than because of what he is….”

 

“Good” Derek nodded, happy that his sister apparently wasn’t about to be stolen from him. “He wouldn’t want you in his horde anyway. You live like a pig. You would put your make-up caked hands all over his treasure”

 

“At least he would appreciate me now shut up and go and make the dragon more things. He likes things.”

 

“God forbid that a person likes things.”

 

“SHUT UP DEREK!!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

He had put the incident with the two intruders to the back of his mind for the next week. Laura was still riding high after a second successful date with the Phoenix and as much as she annoyed him with her newly discovered sunny personality, he didn’t want to bring her down.

 

He may have realised this was a mistake when one day he opened the door to find a box blocking his way. When confronted with the sight, he called for his sister.

 

“Laura! Lover boy left a present.”

 

He left her to it and made his way into his work shop to finish his newest piece for Laura’s dragon friend. He didn’t know much about him so just went ahead and made a standard dragon figurine. It probably wasn’t right but fuck it, Derek couldn’t be bothered trying to find out what species of dragon Stiles was.

 

He lost track of time when Laura walked into the workshop, covering her face from the flying sawdust and waited for Derek to stop working. Removing his safety specs, he rose a brow in questioning.

 

“The box isn’t from Jordan. Were you expecting anything?”

 

Derek shook his head, he hadn’t placed an order for any materials recently. Most of the wood he used came from the trees surrounding the property. Walking back into the house, he inspected the box from a distance. The witch coven who ran the beauty boutique were known for sending prank packages to random citizens to promote new offers and products. Mr. Munroe once spent a week looking like a drag queen after his box exploded with non-removable make up which had been intended for his wife.

 

Derek did the brotherly thing. He pushed Laura in front of him and told her to open it. The make-up would be a bitch to remove with his facial hair.

 

She laughed at him but he felt a hint of smugness when she proceeded to open it with her face turned in the opposite direction. When there was no explosion, she relaxed and peered into the box.

 

“Aww. Somebody made us a cake.”

 

Happy that the threat was nullified, Derek approached the box and looked over his sister’s shoulder. “Is it possible to curse a cake?”

 

Laura scoffed as she bent forward to sniff it. “Yummy, cherry cheesecake. Somebody has good taste.”

 

If anything, that one word caused Derek to back away from the box as if somebody had informed him that the box contained a miniature Djinn. Nobody liked Djinn’s.

 

“Get. It. Out. The. House”

 

“What, why? Ohhh yeah, forgot about your irrational hatred of all things cherry. So weird.” And yet she made no movement to get it out the house. She did it out of pure spite and they both knew it. Preparing to bitch her out, he was interrupted when her cell phone rang.

 

Rolling his eyes, he made to head out of the house. He had had enough of listening to her get soppy and lovey with Jordan. Her concerned tone however made him pause with one foot out the back door.

 

She nearly knocked him over as she moved to collect her things, still speaking into the cell.

 

Hanging up, she swore to herself. “Shit, Derek I need to go into work. Something’s happened in town and it’s all hands on deck.”

 

He forced her to take the cheesecake with her to the station as he opened the windows to air the house out. He seriously hated cherry.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

He was not ashamed to say it but sometimes Laura scared him. She could do something so trivial, so inconspicuous which would strike fear into the largest Jabberwocky and unfortunately for him he lived with her. However that night when she came back from the latest Beacon Hills emergency, stinking of smoke and fire, she managed to scare him more than she ever had done before.

 

Before he could even ask what the hell had happened, she ran up to him and grabbed his face. He wasn’t sure what freaked him out most: the sturdy grip she had on his face, the fact her own nose was roughly millimeters away from his or the calculating look she was fixing him with.

 

“Laura….I’m asking this with all due respect because I’m worried you may be about to squeeze my brain out my face but have you finally cracked?”

 

She held his face for what felt like hours before she released him and started to pace the length of the room. Occasionally she would stop, look at him for a few seconds before shaking her head and continuing to pace.

 

By the time she had decided to fill Derek in on her thoughts, he had grabbed a cup of coffee, settled himself down on the couch and was a couple of pages through his new book.

 

“…..Why you?? I mean it’s you! No, no I have it wrong. I must have it wrong. I mean, you’re a dork.”

 

Derek sighed as he book-marked his page. “Ok thank you for that glowing recommendation. You want to fill me in? What happened today?”

 

Laura stopped pacing and leant against the wall. “We had to deal with a rampaging dragon. Freaked a few people out when he set a few bins on fire but we handled it.”

 

“Like…actual dragon?”

 

Laura nodded. “Yep. Someone upset him and he shifted in the supermarket.”

 

Derek sat up straight. “What…what did he look like?”

 

A goofy smile crossed Laura’s face. “Aw he was so cute. No bigger than a horse at the moment but apparently his dragon form wont fully grow until he hits middle-age. Dragon wise he is just considered a baby. Actually he looks a lot like a horse with wings just fatter. Actually more like a lizard. A cross between a horse and a lizard….meah, still cute.”

 

“How on earth can a dragon having a tantrum be cute?”

 

“He was stamping his feet and roaring like he was trying to speak, that’s how.”

 

Derek regarded his sister suspiciously. “And this had led to a mental breakdown how?”

 

Laura hesitated. “It’s nothing. Possibly nothing. Just leave it with me”

 

He felt his theoretical heckles rise “Did Jordan do something?”

 

“No. God no. Speaking of which he wants to have coffee with you tomorrow and what he wants, I want. Half 12, Reaper’s café. Be there or I will hurt you.”

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

As to be expected from somewhere which was run by a group of Grim Reapers, the café was dark, dreary and cold. So very cold. The paint work depicted around the café was dedicated half to heaven, half to hell and full on spine-chilling. But they sold the best coffee around so they were forgiven for giving customers the creeps. The other plus side was that the Reaper Baristas had no face so were unable to give Derek any glares as he settled himself down on his table, latte in hand and waited for Laura’s other half.

 

Glancing around, he was pleased to note that the café was quite empty for this time of day. There was only himself, a few tables with couples and a guy who had decided Cosmo was appropriate café reading material.

 

The minutes passed, Jordan was still absent and the Cosmo magazine had moved a table closer to Derek’s. What was more impressive was that the man hadn’t even stopped reading as he shifted tables. More time passed, Jordan still hadn’t appeared and the Cosmo man had managed to gravitate a further two tables closer.

 

Checking the time, Derek realised just how late Jordan was. Was he….had he just been stood up?!

 

He was lucky he didn’t break his cell as he brought up Laura’s number and waited for her to pick up.

 

“Hey Der-“

 

“Next time you set me up to meet a guy, don’t bother. I don’t care how nice or pretty he is.” Hanging up before she could come back with a retort, he slammed the cell on the table.

 

He isn’t quite sure what happened after that. One minute he was planning revenge on his sister and her boyfriend, the next he jumped as a giant ball of flames seemed to appear from nowhere as it roared up to the ceiling.

 

If that wasn’t enough to make him leave, the water sprinklers did.

 

He heard a loud, over-exaggerated exclamation of “Oh no, where did that flame come from.” as he made his way out of the café with the other customers.

 

He paused as he recognized the voice. The voice which he was adamant came from the Cosmo man who was still seated, dripping wet with the magazine still hiding his face. The same voice who had argued with him that he was a ‘manly-man’ a week before from outside his house.

 

He was officially lamped with the stupidest stalker known to humanity.


	4. Chapter 4

His next run in with his stalker again occurred at his house and did absolutely nothing to perpetuate the feeling that he was dealing with a moron.

Two morons actually as he had brought his friend along with him again.

It was a quiet night and after a hard day’s work of making even more things for the local dragon (who was very generous with his payment), Derek had decided to unwind on the front porch with a beer. Unfortunately his night was ruined when he looked up into the distance and spotted two figures perched up high on a branch of one of the larger trees which stood at the front of the house.

He gave them credit. At least they had tried to be inconspicuous by the fact both of them were covered head-to-toe in black – balaclavas included. The effort was ruined however as the one with the warm, rich brown eyes was playing on his cell which lit up spectacularly on a night where the moon was hidden behind cloud. Just like before, neither cottoned on to the fact that Derek could hear every single word.

“We have been here for hours.”

“Reconnaissance man. Every general knows reconnaissance is the key to winning a war.”

“We are not going to war-”

“The war for my eternal happiness and partly for my own sanity. Dad can’t handle any more out bursts so I need to get a grip on this thing and fast.”

Derek zoned them out as he took out his own cell and messaged Laura.

_From: Derek_

_What do I need to do to get a restraining order on somebody?_

Thankfully, she replied in seconds.

_From: Laura_

_Have a kick ass alpha. Who is bothering you?_

_From: Derek_

_A kid has been following me around for about a week or so. He is currently in danger of falling out one of our trees and has been talking to his friend non-stop about the merits of employing a Brownie to clean his house and how it empowers them to fulfil their destiny in life…_

He is sure that if he listened carefully he could hear her laughter from the police station across the town. 

_From: Laura_

_Tell Stiles that I said I will give his Dad a fatty steak if he doesn’t leave our home._

Clearing his throat to try and get the boys attention, his voice echoed throughout the clearing. “Stiles. Go home before Laura feeds your Dad a big, fat steak. If I see you around here again, I will hit you with my fist and a court order.”

He was too entertained to help when one of the masked nuisances fell out of the tree while his friend told him that “this was such a bad idea.”

He wasn’t as entertained with the reply of “Oh my god, he knows who I am Scott. I told you this would work.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It seemed like the fact that Derek now knew his stalker was, in fact, the new dragon shifter just made him even more determined to drive the wolf to the brink of insanity. A dragon who apparently was a fan of baked goods if the state of their kitchen was anything to go by.

The onslaught of cakes and bread started two days after Stiles fell out of his tree, hobbling off with his friend and complaining about his potentially broken ass but Derek had to give the boy dude credit, he really could cook some amazing shortbread. 

He was not stupid, he knew exactly who was behind this new idea of fattening Derek up. He just isn’t sure why. When he asked Laura if it was because Stiles wanted to make him nice and tasty for when he ate him, her reply was “oh he wants to eat you alright” before leaving for work, a box of freshly made croissants under her arm. Stiles seemed to seriously over estimate just how much a pack of two wolves could eat.

Thankfully, Laura finally decided to see his point of view the day Stiles made mint cupcakes. If Derek hated cherry, Laura abhorred mint. Putting her foot down, she finally asked John tell Stiles that - while the sentiment was lovely – to please stop making food. Derek hoped that it would signal the end of everything.

It didn’t. Not by a long shot when one day a tent magically appeared in their front yard complete with a sleeping bag and a cooking stove. Ffrankly, he doesn’t think Laura took the situation seriously. 

What she should have told him was that he was trespassing and to get off their property. 

What she actually did was give him spare canned food.

So now Derek’s stalker not only openly followed him whenever he was in town, he now spied on him through the window of his work shop.

If it were another time, place and person Derek would have admitted the shifter was cute. However those feelings dissipated whenever he saw those russet bug-eyes peering at him through the window.

“Laura you need to do something about him. It’s not natural. Doesn’t he have better things to do?” he complained to his sister two weeks after their squatter had set himself up. As per usual, Derek entered into the conversation with the hope that Laura would be on his side. This was a naive thought. 

“Don’t worry about it, he is starting work soon so he will probably migrate back to the house soon. I think it is sweet th-“

“No. No it is not sweet. It is traumatizing. He will not leave me alone and I know fine well he is taking some of my woodwork.”

He expected her to chastise him, to mock him. He did not expect her to clasp her hands underneath her chin with tears in her eyes, followed by the sentence “My idiotic little brother is a dragon’s horde piece….”

Derek did the only thing he could think of. He rose from his seat, turned around and headed to his room. He was not dealing with this today. Sadly Laura didn’t take the hint as she followed him up the stairs and settled on top of the bed next to him.

“Explain.”

A sigh filled the room as he felt Laura shift to face him. “I’m not 100% sure but I’m pretty sure he has decided that you are his horde piece. John mentioned that he is pretty sure it is a person and he is adamant he and his friend have been planning things. Nothing good comes from them planning things. John is adamant Stiles is behind the random shakes Scott had a few weeks ago. Oh that reminds me, Stiles asked yesterday if you could build a cabinet for his horde room? He wants to showcase his best items.”

“Stop side tracking.”

“Ok, fine.” Laura shuffled as she tried to get herself comfy. 

Curiosity got the better of Derek. “Why?”

“Why what? Why do I think you’re his horde piece?” when he nodded in confirmation, Laura explained herself. “It’s just…remember the day when Stiles shifted in the supermarket? When Jordan spoke to witnesses he said that just before it happened people were talking about you. Everyone in town knows who is part of his horde and the rumor going around is that you are now included. That and all the gifts sort of speak from themselves. Remember the day with the cherry pie? He was at the station when I brought it in and not long after I told everyone you hated cherry he looked like he was about to cry. Also somebody set fire to Jackson’s car not long after he made a comment about you. Jackson is adamant it was Stiles.”

Running his hands through his hair in frustration, Derek grunted to himself. “What do I do?”

“Honestly? Jordan and John have both said that once Stiles is fixated on something he kind of doesn’t let it go. My advice to you would be to just wait it out. He will come to you when he is ready then just take it from there.”

“That is stupid advice.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was stupid advice but it was prophetic advice when two days later, Stiles migrated from his spot at the window to the doorway. After a month of a shadow, Derek was surprised when his shadow actually spoke to him.

“Can I show you something?”

The wolf didn’t even pause as he continued to chisel into the bark of his newest order – a frame for an anniversary gift for a seraphim couple.

“You have annoyed me more than anyone in my life - including my sister - and those are your first words to me?”

Stiles shrugged as if saying ‘what can you do?’ as he replied. “Got your attention, didn’t I?”

The wolf shook his head as he ignored the other man and continued with his work. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the man starting to fidget, tension rising in the room.

“If you come with me then I will leave you alone for a few days.”

“A week” Derek bargained, slightly taken back when Stiles’ eyes widened in panic.

“Three days.”

“A week Stiles. Take it or leave it.”

“Fine! Fine I will leave you alone for a week.”

Derek crossed his arms across his chest as he regarded the dragon, who actually seemed to be sad. But he couldn’t back down, no matter how bad the downtrodden vibe made him feel. He was not going to feel bad for trying to guide the shifter from disaster. And by disaster he meant continuing with his unwarranted infatuation. He didn’t bother cleaning himself up as he nodded his head for Stiles to lead the way.

To his surprise, Stiles began to lead him through the forest. To his annoyance, Stiles talked to him nonstop from the second he set foot out of the work shop.

“I love this place. The town is ok but man, this woodland is epic. The other day I saw a herd of Griffin’s. Griffin’s man! I didn’t think they were so big but hey, I can’t really talk as my shift is tiny. Well at the moment it is but I will grow. Fully grown dragons can be larger than a house. When I grow I can fly you places. I can’t at the moment, you're too heavy for me to get a proper flight but yeah, we are going to have so much fun together-“

“No.”

Stiles brought the two of them to a stop, voice taking on an inhuman growl “No? What do you mean no?! You are mine!” Derek took a hesitant step backwards, hand raised in front of him. Stiles’ eyes flashed the colour of fire as smoke seemed to permeate around the angry man but as quickly as it happened, the shifter seemed to shake himself out of it.

“Shit sorry, sorry, I am so sorry. It’s just hard to control it when I’m around you, like seriously all my control goes out the window. Not that anything would happen to you. Look at it this way, it will be a funny story to tell the fami…ok that’s you walking away. Ok I deserve that…”

Stiles spent the rest of the walk apologizing as he led them to a clearing deep within the forest.

“Ta-da” Stiles announced as he waved his hand across the clearing. The clearing where the only defining feature was a little hill in the center. Derek was not impressed and he knew that Stiles knew how he felt but the dragon was not deterred as he grabbed the wolf by his jacket sleeve and pulled him further into the clearing – closer to the hill.

“Ok yes, it doesn’t look that impressive but that’s mainly because we came out at the wrong side but I swear it is totally worth it.” Stiles explained as they walked around the parameter of the hill until they were facing the direction of the clearing they had just walked through. 

A metal gate was imbedded into the steep side of the mound which Stiles promptly swung open with a proud look on his face as he turned to fully face Derek. 

“I would totally let you go first but I need to light the lanterns so we can see. You might want to stay behind me a bit.” And with that, Stiles walked through the gate and down the stairs - trusting that Derek would follow. 

He might as well see what he had spent all this time walking for. 

As he descended down the stone steps – cautious as the day light faded with each step he took down, he watched as Stiles picked up a hanging lantern and ignited it with a small flame which he blew out of his mouth. Derek appreciated the fact that he kept it small as he placed the lantern back in its original spot, letting the flame animate the walkway. He repeated the gesture with some more lanterns as they approached a large, imposing corridor. Each side of the hallway had three metal doors on each side with another one based at the end of the passage.

“What is this place?” he asked as he looked around.

Stiles walked up to his side. “It used to be part of an old mine I think? I’m not too sure, I found it when I was scoping out the area when Dad was posted here and I just knew it was perfect.”

“Perfect for what?” Derek asked as Stiles smirked at him.

“You will see.” He answered as he walked towards the door at the end of the hallway and opened it up to unveil pitch black. Even with his shifter eyesight, Derek had no chance of seeing what the room held, if it held anything at all.

Pausing to look back at Derek, Stiles gestured him to move away from the room and further down the hallway. “You may want to step back for this bit if you’re iffy about fire dude.”

He heeded the warning as Stiles breathed out a massive flame into the room and held it for a few seconds before extinguishing it. Before, the room was caked in darkness. Now it was shining with light as Stiles stepped back and held out an arm, gesturing for Derek to enter the room. He had to blink a few times to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing.

Calling it a room was an injustice. It was the size of a football pitch and as high as a five story building. And it was packed with jewels. Mounds and mounds of gold, silver, rubies, onyx, diamonds and others which Derek couldn’t even identify but he was sure that if it existed, it was probably here. He was speechless as the light from the lanterns stationed high up on the walls glistened off the mountains of treasure.

“Pretty neat yeah?” Stiles couldn’t even hide the pride in his tone as he stood beside Derek and took in the sight of his collection. His horde.

Derek could only nod in reply. Shocked wordlessness.

“I can’t take all the credit. A lot of it was my mom’s and she inherited it from granddad and so on but I have added a bit to it.”

“How….just how?” Derek asked.

Stiles shrugged as though all this was nothing but a drop in the water. “A lot of it is passed down through the family and a lot are just things which have caught my eye. People seem to be happy to give me collectables and valuables when they realise what I am.”

Derek turned a skeptical eye towards Stiles “Why?”

He was answered with a smirk. “Because they couldn’t be anywhere safer. Let’s go, I want to show you the stuff I have spent years gathering.”

Stiles walked out the room as Derek spluttered behind him. “More? There is more?!”

Derek followed him into the next room which, while smaller than the previous one, was still larger than his house combined except this one contained piles of books. So. Many. Books.

Taking his time as he scoured the room, he couldn’t help but be impressed as he explored the collection. They ranged in age, size, colour, language…think of it and it was there. First editions, original volumes by the world’s most renowned scholars and books which had been considered to be myths.

A laugh escaped from Derek’s mouth – the jewels held no interest to him but he could spend years in this room just reading about everything and anything.

He turned to face Stiles, a smile fixed on his face however his joy didn’t match the pure delight which radiated from the dragon who seemed to twitch with excitement, hands clasped together.

“Do you like it?” he asked, somehow becoming…brighter?...when Derek nodded in reply and the wolf just couldn’t bring himself to look away.

A flourish of movement brought him out of his trance as the dragon ran past him and rummaged through a pile tucked towards the back of the room. Books, scripts and scrolls were pushed aside until the dragon cheered to himself. 

He resurfaced with an old book clutched in his hands, attempting to blow the dust off of it but just succeeding in making himself sneeze. Tentatively, he thrust the book out towards Derek as he walked closer to him. Derek just looked at him dubiously, confused with the action.

“I…” Stiles started, gaze now fixed on the floor. “I want you to have this. I think you will like it.”

“What is it?” Derek asked as he took hold of the book, surprised at the weight of it.

“It’s a book on ancient and mythological paras. One of the first ones ever written in fact. One of my great, great, however many great grandfathers wanted to document paras centuries before the enlightenment so spent years gathering information. A lot of what is in there is stuff that has been forgotten over time but I think you will appreciate it.”

Derek shook his head. “I can’t accept this. It’s part of your horde.”

Fire again flashed in Stiles’ eyes. “It still is my horde but it is yours as well now. Sorry but it is kind of…if a dragon wants you to have something, you really need to accept it.”

Derek nodded, clutching the book to his chest as confusion grew with the potential implication of the gesture.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay. Between xmas, new year and the discovery of FrostHawk my productivity has dropped.

Derek was the kind of person who imagined what his first words to somebody could or should have been or things he should have said during an argument hours after it had occurred. The same was applicable to things he was going to say to people before they had even met.

 

For example, he had imagined many things he would say to Jordan Parish when they first met. Things ranging from “You honestly think you are good enough for my sister?”, “How dare you stand me up for coffee?” to “Don’t burn my furniture”.

 

As he entered the house after he had made his way back from his trip to the Horde, he had his chance to create an impression which would last in the fire-birds mind.

 

Create an impression he did when he walked up to the Phoenix, grabbed him by the shirt and demanded “What does it mean when a Dragon gifts you something from his Horde?!”

 

Laura gave up trying to separate them when her attempts to drag her brother away from her panicking boyfriend just ended up shifting them both further across the floor, instead taking the time to introduce the two men.

 

“Derek this is Jordan. Jordan this is Derek. Ignore him, he drank Peter’s scotch when he was four and has never been the same since”

 

“I…I…what?” Jordan asked when panic gave way to confusion after Derek finally pushed him away.

 

“If a dragon gives a person something from his horde, what does it mean?”

 

Jordan looked confused “I don’t know. It has never happened. A dragon is too territorial to give away anything from his horde.”

 

Derek couldn’t hold back the panicked laugh that escaped from him. “Then we have a defunct dragon” he proclaimed as he pointed towards the book which he had firmly placed on the table top before he grabbed Jordan.

 

The phoenix walked up to the gift and studied it while Laura punched Derek on the arm. “We seriously have to work on your people skills. Jesus Derek, what the hell are you doing? Where did you even get that?”

 

“He took me to his horde room and then gave it to me.”

 

He knew he said the wrong thing when, out of the corner of his eye, Parish tensed up. He shared a worried glance with Laura.

 

“Jordan?” she hedged closer to the man “What is it?”

 

He hesitated before turning to his girlfriend. “I…Laura not even John or Scott has seen Stiles’ horde. He is very adamant that people stay away from it.”

 

Laura cheered when she realised she had been proven right in regards to Derek being Stiles’ horde piece. Derek caught the dippy look Jordan gave his sister as she danced around the kitchen with the finesse of a drunk duck with the chant “I was right so suck it”. He was pleased to see that he was just as taken with her as she was with him but there were bigger issues here.

 

“So why would he give it away?”

 

Jordan looked at him with an air of contemplation. “I’m not too sure. Leave it with me. Lydia might be able to help but she is on holiday at the moment and has threatened bodily harm if we interrupt her…”

 

Laura straightened up, features becoming more wolf-like as she stalked up to Jordan. “Why? What will she do? Do I need to have a world with her?”

 

Jordan pulled her into a one armed hug which she quickly sank into. “Have you ever heard a pissed off banshee? She blew the windows out of the house when Scott accidently dyed her dog pink and she wasn’t even screaming. We received calls from banshees in Hong Kong because they heard her going off on one.”

 

Derek sighed to himself as he carefully picked up the book and left the two love birds alone. He still had no idea what to do but at least he had bought himself a week to come up with a plan.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

He had hoped for a week of peace. A naive thought but he was still hopeful nevertheless. In reality he was given three days of seclusion before he was disturbed by a knock at the door.

 

He expected it to be Stiles. Instead he was greeted by Jordan and another man. On closer inspection, the other man was actually the Sheriff.

 

He sighed as he invited the two men in and guided them to the kitchen. Surprisingly, Derek had found that he could tolerate Jordan a lot more than he could other people after they had all calmed down. But that was a few days ago when Jordan wasn’t sat in his kitchen, in his uniform, with his boss who just so happened to be his stalkers dad.

 

The three let an unacceptable amount of time pass where silence filled the house.

 

Deciding to try and be a grown up, Derek metaphorically pulled on his big boy pants and spoke. “So….what do you both want?”

 

He liked Jordan. Doesn’t mean he has to be nice to him.

 

The phoenix seemed to hesitate before a sharp elbow into his side delivered by the older man prompted him into action.

 

“Ok. Ok look I just want to say that I’m not saying that I want this to happen right away or even at all. Wait, no, I mean I-I do wan….ok can you stop glaring at me. It is putting me off…” Jordan exhaled shakily before he locked his eyes with the wolf, determination set in his features. “Laura is it for me. I know we have only been seeing each other for about a month but I have…cared for her a lot longer and now I have her, I want to keep her.”

 

Jordan turned to the sheriff who gave him a comforting smile as he laid his hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

 

“Derek, you mean the world to Laura and I want to know that, whatever happens in the future we will have your blessing. I mean, we are far from getting hitched or anything like that but I know it would mean everything if you said this was ok. She…I know that she is mine and I am hers.”

 

Jordan ran out of steam as Derek fixed his face with a stoic expression. “And if I said no?”

 

Jordan sighed as his shoulders sank. “Then I would leave her alone. I want her to be happy and she never would be if you didn’t approve.”

 

Derek gave it a few seconds before he lent closer to the bird, letting his wolf come to the surface. “Don’t hurt her. You do and we will have a problem but until then” the wolf receded as he lent back and away “we are good.”

 

A smile spread across Jordan’s face as he stood to leave. Derek noted with confusion that John made no such movement. Jordan noticed the same as he turned to face his boss as the older man nodded towards the door.

 

“On you go back to town, most of the deputies are in town guarding you-know-what. Derek and I need to have a bit of a chat.”

 

Derek made no movement as he heard the deputy leave the house and as the car peeled out of the driveway. His attention turned to the sheriff when the man sighed as he ran his hand through his hair.

 

“Ok. This chat has been long overdue and I’m sorry about that-“

 

“It’s ok. Your son has just come back into town-“

 

John groaned as he placed his head onto his hands. “I need you to just listen to me. Just give me ten minutes and let me explain everything.”

 

Derek glared at the man with eyes of ice before he seated himself opposite the other. “One question and I want you to be honest. What do you believe? About the fire? About me.”

 

John’s eyes never left Derek’s as he began to talk.

 

“Not a lot of people know that Claudia, my late wife and Stiles’ mom, was older than me. We met through my sister when I was 15 and she was 18 and just like how Parrish knows Laura is his and how Stiles know you are his, she knew I was hers. She tried to explain it once but it was one of those things that, being a human, I just didn’t understand but I accepted it. Anyway, from the moment I saw her I fell in love. Well the teenage equivalent of love. I would have done anything she wanted and answered anything she asked. Luckily for me, Claudia was adamant that I was to have a life before we got together. In the end she and I waited 8 years before we even went on our first date. The point of this is that Claudia was selfless with something which could be dangerous in the hands of somebody less scrupulous. She could have turned something so innocent and pure and changed it into something evil and twisted. The love of a teenage boy for his first girlfriend. People around here forget that.”

 

John sighed when Derek didn’t look like he was going to be part of the conversation. “Son, it wasn’t your fault. It was theirs and that is something that has been forgotten but not anymore. We are going to change that.”

 

Derek interjected. “Who is we?”

 

John smiled “The horde and your pack.”

 

Derek threw himself onto the chair opposite John as he rubbed his hand along his face, muttering “I’m so confused.”

 

“The horde is Stiles’s but Stiles is my son. His horde is as much mine despite what he thinks. Even if that weren’t the case, I would still be doing what I am doing because it is the right thing, even if it is a few years too late but I have had to deal with some other issues.”

 

Derek nodded before regarding John. “So why are you here?”

 

“It goes without saying that Stiles is my son. He is all I have left so I will be damned if I stand back while anything hurts him. For whatever reason, he is pulled towards you and has been before we even decided to move here. My son is a lot of things: reckless, impulsive and annoying but he isn’t stupid. There is something about you that calls to his dragon and also to the boy. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t stand in the way of that. Not if you can give him the same thing that Claudia gave me. I guess I’m here to say that Stiles cares about you and that means that so do I. You have anything you want to talk about, I am a call away. I know Parrish and Laura are trying to figure things out but honestly, you are not totally dealing with a dragon but you are dealing with a Stilinski.”

 

“What’s the difference?”

 

John opened his mouth to answer before he tilted his head in contemplation, a snort of amusement escaping his mouth. “Come to think of it, not much.”

 

“Sheriff-“

 

“Call me John.”

 

“John. I just…I don’t understand. Anything.”

 

“Ok. Unfortunately a few years ago Claudia passed away. Dragons are….they can live a long time but they are still susceptible to things like illness and injury as are most shifters. That’s the consequence of having the gift of being able to shift to human. You take our likeness, you take our weaknesses. Anyway once she left us, me and Stiles decided to leave the city. One day, Stiles walked up to me with a map, pointed at Beacon Hills and said that’s where we needed to be. I haven’t looked back since.”

 

“You just moved because Stiles said so?”

 

John nodded. “I’m sure you may have noticed that Stiles can be a little boneheaded-“ Derek sniggered at that understatement “-when he gets an idea. You will also learn that Stiles’ instincts are second to none. He is adamant you are special and I am not going to doubt him now. Just give him time. This is the first time since his mother died where he has started to lose control over his dragon and he isn’t too sure how to go about this. Please just be patient.”

 

John moved as if he was about to stand and leave which prompted Derek forward. “What does it mean if a dragon gifts you something from his horde?”

 

John did in fact stand but rather then walk out the door, he moved around the table to stand next to Derek as he rested his hand on his shoulder.

 

“It means that Stiles regards you as an equal. He doesn’t see you as weak or beneath him but as somebody strong. Tough enough to protect him and his horde. In human terms that may not mean a lot but for a dragon, it means everything.”

 

Derek exhaled in disbelief “It means everything to certain human’s as well.”

 

John smiled down on him as he squeezed his shoulder. “I’m glad and I mean every single word I have said. However first and foremost I am Stiles’ dad and that means we are taking a little trip in my car. Don’t fight it Derek, we Stilinski’s are a determined family and are not above desperate measures.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writers block is a fekn bitch man!

A sound vibrated through the air the closer they drove towards the town which set Derek and his wolf on edge: making him want to whine in sympathy. The closest comparison he could draw to it would be that it sounded like a mournful fog horn that was stuck on repeat. The closer they got, the louder it became and the more it vibrated through Derek’s bones.

 

“There is one thing you need to know…” John had to raise his voice to be heard clearly. “Laura said that a lot of the time you guys and your wolf are two separate entities to an extent. With Stiles, he and his dragon are one of the same. The characteristics of a dragon are part and parcel of Stiles’ personality and it is the same the other way around.”

 

Derek looked over in confusion. “Ok?”

 

“When Stiles was younger, he was a bit of a drama queen. He would bump his knee and you would think that he had broken his back. His dragon has….adapted that characteristic.”

 

They were quiet as they entered the town, a town which apparently had become deserted since the last time Derek had been there. For the first time since the fire, there was not a single person to be seen: Not on the streets, not in the shops.

 

“What’s going on? Where is everybody?” Derek asked as tension started to build in his gut.

 

“My guess? Currently surrounding the newest bit of drama to happen in Beacon Hills. Apparently the town is concerned about the imminent death of their dragon.”

 

Derek had no time to ask for an elaboration as they pulled into the main high street and were met with a wall of people – humans and paras alike. All the sound that emitted from the crowd was dulled by the continuing fog horn which now sounded suspiciously like a whine.

 

Using his sirens, John slowly drove the car through the crowd as Derek ignored the looks of confusion and derision which greeted him when he looked through the window. Finally the crowd of people dispersed as they drove into the epicenter.

 

It took Derek an embarrassing amount of time to realise what he was looking at, gaze fixed on the chubby pony with wings and a long tail which was currently lying on its stomach in the middle of the road. The noise did indeed come from the beast, who - in between bellowing like a giant on a diet – was panting like a dehydrated dog.

 

For a moment, Derek worried that Stiles was actually dying.

 

“Is….is he ok?” He asked, panic infiltrating his voice.

 

So he was surprised when John started laughing “He is fine. Just being dramatic.”

 

The car came to a stop near to the inner circle of the gathering, Derek instantly recognizing Laura, Parrish and a few other deputies. The rest, he assumed, were close friends of Stiles. On closer inspection, none of them seemed worried which tampered his panic – not that anyone bother to tell his wolf about it. For the first time in a while, Derek had to put serious effort into not shifting.

 

“I don’t understand. If you guys aren’t panicked then why is everyone else?”

 

John groaned “Apparently Stiles’ moans are indicative of one a para species would make when they are close to death. We know Stiles is as far from deaths door as an archangel but the others don’t because they don’t know him. They think they know the dragon but they don’t. Now let’s get out and put an end to this. He is eating into my lunch time.”

 

Derek followed John out of the car and followed him towards a group of people he didn’t recognize.

 

“What’s the deal?” John asked, question directed towards a younger, dark haired boy that looked to be around Stiles’ age.

 

“Same as before. We keep trying to tell everyone he is just throwing a tantrum but they won’t have it. Two covens have already offered to try spells and chants to make him better, three vamps have offered themselves as sacrifices and the Chupacabra had offered his stock of sheep for him so he has food for when he is too weak to move. A lot of them have decided he is just plain cursed.”

 

Derek snorted as he took his eyes off of the jet black dragon, turning to face the crowd. He knew exactly who they thought had cursed him. He knew, he could hear the mutters.

 

He soon learnt that taking his attention off of Stiles was a mistake a few seconds later when Laura shouting his name brought his attention back to the situation, just in time for a rampaging dragon to launch him into the air and throw him around 30 ft. away into the crowd.

 

He had a brief moment of panic when he was air borne that he would hurt somebody but was soothed when he landed and realised that everybody had moved out of his way.

 

Gasping at the pain of his heavy landing, he couldn’t hear the thundering footsteps or the “for god’s sake Stiles” as the world seemed to narrow in until all Derek could focus on was the sky above him.

Breathing through the shooting pain running up and down his back, he attempted to sit up but ended up settling for propping himself up on his elbows. If that wasn’t enough, he was now face to face with a jet black dragon face.

 

Unable to breathe without wheezing, Derek tried to subtly take stock of the situation he was in. Stiles was currently perched over the bottom half of his body with the upper part of his body just inches away from Derek. He noted that Stiles’ hind quarters were still raised in an imitation of what a dog would do when it wanted to play. That added with a wobbling backside due to an out of control tail wag and what he supposed was a dragon version of a smile made for a less then threatening stance.

 

Derek had a brief flash back to Jurassic Park and hoped that the philosophy of stillness applied to dragons. Staying as immobile as he could considering the fact the dragon had now started to wiggle his body further up his own, he lay himself flat on the floor as he held his hands up in a show of surrender, trying to figure out a way to get himself out of his current predicament.

 

“Just pet him Derek. Think of him as an over grown puppy!” came a voice in the distance, one which sounded questionably like the voice of Stiles’ friend who kept him company in his stalking.

 

Hesitating for a second, Derek slowly extended his hand towards the paras face. Closing his eyes in frustration with his own tentativeness, he took a deep breath before firmly pushing his hand forward until he came into contact with Stiles.

 

The first thing he realised was that Stiles was hot. Not burning hot but a nice warmth, one that you would feel when wrapped inside a cocoon of duvets. Next thing was that his face was softer than he expected it to be.

 

Cracking an eye open, Derek jumped slightly when he realised that Stiles had crept up even further to the point where there was little distance between their faces: his dragon style grin still plastered on his face.

 

Flattening his palm, Derek began to heed Scott’s advice and started to softly stroke. On inspection, he realised the dragons body was completely covered in fine scales. Surprisingly, they were soft to the touch but he knew that while they gave the impression of sleekness, they were as hard as a diamond. This comparative was even more apt given that the scales seemed to shine and sparkle in the sunlight, turning the potentially harsh looking armor into once of gloss and smoothness.

 

Becoming braver with his movements, Derek put more pressure into his strokes as he petted the dragon along his face and neck. Looking directly at him, he saw Stiles’ chocolate brown eyes were still there, just with a reptilian iris instead of a human one. Somewhere along the line, his patting turned from an experimental one to a tenderer stroke. Stiles was…

 

 

It was official: Derek was annoyed by Stiles but loved his dragon.

 

The world seemed to fall away as Derek patiently watched Stiles as he continued to pet him. Part of him drew comparison to toothless from _‘How to train your dragon’_ but with a longer face then his animated counterpart.

 

As much as Derek seemed to enjoy the interaction, it was nothing compared to how Stiles was reacting. By now, Stiles had seemed to become bored with the petting and had decided to take it upon himself to rub his face along any part of Derek he could physically reach. Which, really, was all of him. If that wasn’t enough to indicate his joy at the situation, a rumbling noise which sounded like a broken attempt at a purr was.

 

Thankfully, John decided to break up the spectacle before Derek turned to a pile of wolf-jelly.

 

“Stiles. I understand you are happy son but….people are looking. Stop doing what you are doing and turn back.”

 

Sadly it seemed as if dragon Stiles was as stubborn as human Stiles as he huffed before dropping his full weight on top of Derek, snuggling into him then closing his eyes as he let out a content sigh, his tail coming to wrap around both him and his para pillow.

 

Derek was thankful more than ever he was not human. He is sure that, if he was, he would have more than a few broken bones due to the weight. It took Derek a few seconds to realise that Stiles had worked it that, rather then it being suffocating, it was comforting. As if he were attempting to shield Derek from the world, protect him. It touched him more then he thought it would.

 

Resting his head on the tip of the – oddly - soft tail which came to rest alongside his head, Derek let himself simply rest for a while. However, try as he might, he couldn’t block out the outside world and its opinions. Neither could Stiles as it turned out

 

He smelt the coven approaching before he even opened his eyes – the smell of spice and herbs burning his nose. Beacon Hills had a number of covens but the one that was coming towards them were the oldest of them all. It was said they were one of the first para’s to settle in Beacon Hills and - as such - were considered to be the founders of the place which was home to so many. Many looked towards their coven elders for guidance and support while others - a minority the last Derek heard - resented their influence over the town.

 

Opening his eyes, Derek noticed that a group of seven had stopped in front of them. It was only then that he realised that three of the elders had begun chanting while the rest watched on with critical eyes. If Derek suspected they were about to cause trouble, it was confirmed when he felt the previously comfy body surrounding him harden and tense.

 

Quicker than he could take stock of, the dragon shifted until he was crouching over the wolf. Stiles still covered him but his gaze was fixed on the coven who continued to chant until the dragon unleashed a guttural roar, commanding enough to shake the buildings around him.

 

From his position Derek could only see the underbelly of the dragon, the roar diminishing to an incessant snarl which vibrated throughout his body. He tried to ignore the razor-sharp claws which had previously been hidden as they easily tore through the concrete beneath them.

 

If Stiles had heckles, they would be raised but that didn’t matter. He had wings instead. Wings which were now fully extended to show just how bulky he was. That tied in with the small flickers of smoke and flames which were coming from his mouth that was wide enough to show off an intimidating set of teeth left nobody in doubt that Stiles was thoroughly pissed off.

 

Derek heard, rather than saw, the chants pause in hesitation as footsteps drew in closer to the confrontation.

 

“What the…..the hell are you doing?!” he heard Laura yell from somewhere in the melee.

 

“Get back…GET BACK BEFORE HE BURNS THE WHOLE TOWN DOWN.” Somebody from within the crowd added.

 

“What have you done?!” an angry voice addressed the witches.

 

A pair of trainers came to rest to the side of the duo.

 

“Stiles. Listen to me. We are not going to let anything happen but I need you to calm down. Trust me.” His friend, Scott, reasoned. While Stiles seemed to hesitate for a second, he rose enough from his crouch to let Derek maneuver onto his front so he could properly see what was happening. He tried to ignore the growling as he focused on the situation unfolding.

 

As it stood, the coven were separated from them by a line of bodies: some wearing police issue uniform, some not. Out in front was John who was somehow able to keep his cool.

 

“Mind telling me what the hell you are playing at?” His tone made it clear that he wasn’t messing about. The coven elders seemed taken aback by being addressed in the manor that they were but quickly recovered.

 

“Just a simple incantation to see what the wolf has done to the dragon.” The elected spokesperson ignored the stunned silence which greeted her statement.

 

Scott stepped up to stand beside John. “You do know that dragons aren’t affected by magic yeah?”

 

The elder witch laughed. “Don’t be stupid, of course they are…”

 

“No.” Laura had stepped forward to join the two guys. “No they are not. Dragons are the epitome of magic, they are older than mankind and are definitely older then Wiccan covens. Any magic done by you or anyone else is useless against him.”

 

A tentative voice spoke questioned from amongst the crowd. “So then why is he like that over a wolf shifter?”

 

“Because Derek is his Horde piece...” Scott answered only to be interrupted by a laugh.

“Really? Out of all the paras here, he chooses a two-bit common wolf? We have a Pegasus, Titans, Jotuns and Hydras but he chooses…him?”

 

Laura tilted her head in consideration of the elder. “What do you have against him? What do any of you have against him?! He has done nothing wrong!”

 

The witch sneered at the alpha. “He brought death and destruction to our home….”

 

“HE WAS A CHILD!!” Laura exploded. “HE WAS A CHILD WHO LOST EVERYTHING!”

 

“And he could have potentially destroyed this town! He brought the hunters to our doorstep”

 

Bravely, John stepped in between the two women. “Enough. This stops and it stops now.” John turned to Laura. “I understand how you feel. I do but when you are in that uniform and I am in charge you need to keep calm.”

 

John turned to the elder. “This has gone on long enough and it ends now. Yes, Derek was stupid in the way that teenage boys are but he has paid for it. If it wasn’t him, it would have been somebody else and he doesn’t deserve to be punished by anyone, not any more. You just remember that even though he is protected, I will NOT stand for anybody trying to hurt my son. That also means I will not tolerate anyone trying to harm Derek.”

 

Turning to face the crowd, John spoke up. “He didn’t bring the hunters to your doorstep. They were already here and we cannot go along any more victim blaming those who need help the most. I will make Beacon Hills safe for anyone: be they people just looking for acceptance or people who need a home. You are not the only place where hunters and anti-paras have hit but we can be part of something bigger. We can be a place where we protect our own-“

 

“How?” asked a teenage girl who had broken the line.

 

John smiled down on her. “We make a change. We move from these superstitions, these times of conflict and we work together. We can do it but we won’t do it for a town who doesn’t deserve it. This town was known as a haven during the enlightenment but it has slipped. How can you be a haven when you are determined to hurt one of your own? But it doesn’t matter because with or without your help, things will change…”

 

A gruffalo stepped forward. “How? How can you change things if we don’t agree…?”

 

Jordan spoke up. “Because we have a dragon on our side. A dragon who will destroy the town if he feels that his horde is threatened.”

 

“So your threatening us?! Accept the wolf or we lose our town?” The elder witch screeched.

 

John shrugged “You brought it on yourself. We don’t want to go down that path but we will if need be.”

 

A second elder stood next to her coven leader. “Your pack will never be able to take on the town. We are too strong and your numbers are small”

 

“You want to bet? We have more support than you think…”

 

At the prompt from Scott, it seemed like a wave of people moved from the side where the crowd had gathered, past the coven and stood behind the pack. Even Laura looked taken aback by the volume of people who stood behind them now.

 

“You see? This is because of us. This is the power of our pack. Please understand Elders we don’t want to fight. We want to make things right and we want to make this town a better place. Person to person? I want this town to be safe for my son. We may have peace between the species and humans but there are still people who would want to take him away, to hurt him. The same way I want to protect him, I also want to make him happy. I want him to be able to walk down the street with whoever he chooses and not have to fight every day against an opinion which is undeserved. He wants to know that his horde piece can leave his home without having to panic that today is the day somebody tries to take revenge for an incident where he let his heart rule his head. You must be able to understand that…”

 

So taken by the debate going on in front of him and what the pack had done to the town, Derek didn’t realise the dragon above him had stopped growling. He jumped when Stiles’s head settled down on his shoulder, next to his, and started rubbing against his own face.

 

_Shift wolf_

 

Derek jumped when he heard the command before quickly looking around to see if anyone else heard it. Shaking his head when he realised all eyes were firmly locked on the Sherriff, Derek tried to refocus.

 

He lasted a few seconds before he felt his whole body buzzing, like something was trying to burst out of his skin. Breathing deeply, Derek fought to keep control.

 

“I-is this you?!” He shakily demanded as the dragon refused to look at him.

 

_Let go_

 

The buzzing intensified as the panic rose within Derek, unsure of what was happening. It grew and grew until it suddenly stopped for a second. The lull coincided with Stiles rubbing his face on Derek’s shoulder only for it to rise again when the contact stopped.

 

_Trust me. Let go_

 

Before he had the chance to second guess himself, Derek followed Stiles’ advice and just…relaxed.

 

Part of him was screaming that he was being a fool. Another – louder – part of him argued that Stiles had protected him. He would – more than likely – continue to protect him. Realistically Stiles was here to stay, Derek acknowledged and was settled with that fact. Stiles wouldn’t leave him alone no matter what he did and even with that, Stiles shared something with Derek which nobody else had seen. Maybe it was time for Derek to take a chance on Stiles…on anybody really.

 

Closing his eyes, he shivered as it felt like a cold breeze swept throughout his body. As quick as it came upon him, it dissipated.

 

Opening his eyes, at first it felt like nothing had changed until he took stock of his body. He felt…stronger, more in tune with his surroundings and his baser instincts. He didn’t realise just why he felt like this until he looked down and, instead of seeing hands, he saw paws.

 

A full shift transition was rare for wolf shifters, even rarer for a beta wolf so to say he was stunned was an understatement.

 

Stiles however didn’t seem to appreciate the situation as he rose up and moved to Derek’s side. A few seconds later, he felt a mouth clamp softly but firmly on the scruff of his neck before he was lifted into the air.

 

If there was one thing he would take away from the day, it would be the look of shock on his alpha’s face as he was carried away, like a puppy, by a dragon who decided to leave his father to argue his cause.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so...super sorry for not updating sooner. Between moving city/finding a job/applying for job/crying at rejection, the fic kinda got forgotten. But worry no more, for I have got off my arse and updated.
> 
> So so so sorry

Being a full shift wolf was different. It was like he was himself but a more primitive version. He knew what he was doing but at the same time it felt as if somebody else had an influence on what he did and how he felt. He was strong…powerful.

 

However both he and the wolf influence were in firm agreement: They didn’t mind too much being carried about clamped in the jaws of a dragon. They didn’t mind it to the point where he ended up falling asleep to the swinging motion that the movements provided. He briefly awoke up long enough to recognize that Stiles had brought him back to his horde room and they were currently napping in their animal forms before he fell asleep again.

 

When he fully came back to consciousness, he was glad to see that he had returned back to two legs but a bit miffed that he also seemed to have lost his clothes. However his modesty was covered by a tartan blanket.

 

“It was my granddads. He got it from the highlands of Scotland when he went to visit just before my mom was born.”

 

Derek quickly turned to face Stiles, surprised to see him in the room. Looking around he realised he was actually in what constituted as a large sized bedroom.

 

“You have a bedroom in your horde bunker?” he asked, ignoring the slight blush that appeared on Stiles’ cheeks.

 

“Yeah.” The dragon answered as he scratched the back of his neck. “I…sometimes I fall asleep looking at everything. It stops dad worrying that I’m going to fall asleep in the wrong place and end up crushed to death by a toppled mountain of sapphires.”

 

Derek sighed as he sat up on the bed, rearranging the blankets to cover himself. Stiles gestured towards the bedside table where a hot drink and a pile of clothes were sitting.

 

“I picked out some clothes I had hanging about. I have a kitchen attached to the library so I can eat, you want anything to eat? I can make…well baked things.”

 

Derek sighed as he clasped his head in his hands, resting them on his raised knees. “No just…Jesus I’m so confused.”

 

He felt the bed dip as Stiles came to rest beside him, back propped up against the head board as he snorted “Yeah, join the club.”

 

Turning his head to face the dragon, Derek noticed the deflated look the other had as he gazed at the far off wall. “Explain.”

 

Stiles paused before he turned his head to face Derek, sorrow filing his eyes. “I just…I don’t know what’s happening to me. I thought I had…ok. When I was 7, I met Lydia and I was obsessed. Like stalker obsessed and one day mom sat me down and said it was because of what I am. I saw someone I liked and like, all my focus just went to her and it didn’t stop until I was 17. After Scott was turned, we sort of banded together and Lydia explained to me how what I did, how I acted, made her feel and…I didn’t ever want to make anyone feel like that again.”

Stiles paused as he took a drink of water from the side of the bed. “I suffocated her. I made her feel awkward and uncomfortable but I couldn’t see it until I understood about myself more. I don’t…Derek I don’t know myself. The only dragon I knew was my mother and she died when I was young. Dad tried but I didn’t have anyone to tell me what was me and what was the dragon. Still don’t actually. Anyway I swore to myself I wouldn’t ever put somebody in the position I put Lydia in and I know I’m doing it again and I can’t stop…”

 

By now, Stiles couldn’t even look at him as sorrow poured off the boy. For whatever reason, this didn’t sit well with Derek.

 

“So explain to me how you feel. Or how your dragon feels because I don’t get it.” Derek asked, dismayed that his attempts to make conversation didn’t seem to cheer the man up.

 

“It’s…it’s like Lydia again but worse. Like it actually hurts when I’m not near you. Like not a painful hurt but, I don’t know, it feels like something is pulling me towards you. Like I know, deep down, you and me? We are meant to be together. You were made to be mine and I was made to be yours and it’s frustrating because I know it isn’t logical. I don’t even know you man! I tried to stay away and then all this happened.”

 

Derek sighed as his head dropped back in contemplation. “Ok. We need to think about this. Obviously what we are doing now isn’t working for either of us. It isn’t just about me and it isn’t just about you either. So we need to plan.”

 

Derek felt Stiles shift closer to him, to the point their shoulders touched. “You trust me to do that?”

 

Derek snorted. “The man doesn’t. But the wolf does and if there is one thing I have learnt is that he is normally right so yeah, in that way I do trust you.”

 

“So what do we do now?”

 

“Now-” Derek suggested. “-as much as I hate to do it, now we talk. I ask questions, you answer. That seems the easiest and least painful way to get through this.”

 

“Wha-?” Stiles spluttered.

 

“You ramble. About things which I don’t care about” Derek stated, satisfied when Stiles shrugged in agreement with a ‘what can you do’ look written across his face.

 

“Ok so is this all your dragon or is it you?”

 

Stile sighed as he sat across from the wolf. “Both…I think. I don’t know. I’m kinda making this up as I go along. But I think it’s both? I mean, I knew for some reason I had to be here with my horde and I do like you…”

 

Derek snorted “No you don’t. You don’t know me.”

 

Stiles turned to look at the other. “Yes I do. I know that you are loyal and smart and….and you are awesome with stuff! You have nice eyes and your hands and arms are obscene.”

 

“Truly the makings of a lasting partnership.” Replied Derek in a deadpan tone only to be met with a quick slap on his chest.

 

“Ok you have a point but…this doesn’t happen to me a lot. I do like you and I know that when I get to know you more I will like what I find.”

 

Derek just stared, dumbfounded. “How can you be so sure?”

 

Stiles simply shrugged in reply. “I just do. I feel it. I feel it when I see something for my horde and I feel that and more for you. Might be because of what I am, might be because Stilinski’s are known to be on the far scale of crazy.”

 

Derek stared at the man before exhaling sharply. “So what now? We can’t have you changing all the time, Beacon Hills might not survive the next one.”

 

“Just…go out with me, one date. I have it on good authority that below the spazziness I am a nice person. Ok the good authority is my Dad and Scott but still…or just let me be near you. I mean let’s face it, the dragon obviously suffers with separation anxiety.”

 

Derek sighed, weighing up his options. “I’m not good for you, you realise that?”

 

“What makes you think that?” The innocent look being thrown his way was not endearing. Not in the slightest.

 

“What I have done. What I am-”

 

“What you have done is survived and what you are is a fighter. And in the interests of safety, the large black animal and the human man connected to it doesn’t like you talking about yourself like that so it would probably be best if we curb this discussion for now.” Stiles stood with a sense of finality. “Go on a date with me. If you hate it, we will work something else out.”

 

“Is that you or the dragon talking?”

 

“Both. Now shut up, I will pick you up tomorrow night.”

 

“Do I not get a say in this?”

 

“Nope. Laura has advised me that you are irresponsible in making decisions for your own best interests.”

 

Derek sighed – he really had no comeback to that.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“I’m not getting in that.” was how Derek greeted his suitor the next night. Stiles looked him like he had threatened to shoot his dad.

 

“I…Derek there is nothing wrong with my Jeep!!”

 

Derek wanted to argue. Dear god did he want to argue. The ‘Jeep’ looked like it wouldn’t survive a gentle breeze and Derek was sure if he sat in it, he would fall through the floor. However, Laura had threatened him with bodily harm if he deliberately tried to sabotage this date.

 

She wouldn’t see that it was surviving certain death by refusing to get into the vehicle. She would see it as Derek tarnishing all her hard work and besmirching the Hale name.

 

Biting his tongue, Derek gently slid into the jeep – hoping that the gentle entry would protect him from seeing the undercarriage of the car. Sadly his care was voided when Stiles threw himself into the rust-bucket and set them off on their date.

 

Against his own judgment, Derek had conceded planning the night to Stiles. An idea which he regretted the moment he realised that Stiles was driving them past town limits.

 

“So…er…where are we going?” Derek asked with trepidation, images of his imminent death at the hands of a hungry dragon playing in his head.

 

“I figured we should go out of town, away from everyone. You will be more comfortable that way, nobody giving you hassle. Saying that, I don’t think you will be getting much more of that anymore which is great. Apparently being a horde piece had made you indestructible so it’s up to you how you want to play things. We can both ignore everyone and pretend this new situation is normal or I can shift and watch your back as you trash the town. I’m down for whatever. Only, if you decide to raze Beacon Hills, can you at least leave the bakery on Main Street alone? Their fairy cakes are to die for. I’m telling you, nobody can bake as good as elves…”

 

“I’m not going to raze Beacon Hills-“

 

“What?!” Stiles argued, turning his attention off the road. “Not even a little?! Man, that’s disappointing. I was really looking forward to accidently burning douchemore’s eyebrows off.”

 

Derek snorted at the mental image of Jackson with no eyebrows, ignoring the warmth that spread through his chest at 1. Stiles’ attempt at making him comfortable by taking him out of town and 2. Stiles’ adamancy at protecting and supporting Derek, even if he was hypothetically breaking the law.

 

He was interrupted from his muisings by Stiles, who had decided to move on from laying siege to Beacon Hills with his….Derek.

 

“So I started work today. It’s ok. Well actually its more than ok, I love it and it means I can watch Dad’s diet. Your sister is looking for a promotion and I just know she is sneaking him glazed doughnuts. He thinks he is subtle but he isn’t. Can’t even properly wipe the icing from his mouth half the time…”

 

Derek held in his chuckle at his sister’s lack of stealth and focused on the dragon. “What do you do anyway?”

 

“Oh yeah, forgot you don’t know. I’m working with the police. Kinda like a para community officer. I mean I give the guys advice on different paras, how best to work with them or how to take them down if need be. It’s basically my job to know everything there is on all species….”

 

“How to you remember all that?” Derek asked, a little bit shocked if he were to be honest.

 

Stiles simply tapped his head. “Dragon dude, we remember shit. A lot of shit. You wouldn’t believe the amount of arguments I have won from remembering things from years ago.”

 

Derek shrugged. “That works out well. I struggle to remember my birthday sometimes.”

 

“We match up well then.” Derek tried to not return the warm look Stiles gave him from across the car. He knows he failed but, thankfully, they pulled up to a parking lot before Stiles could brag.

 

Within no time they were both seated, staring at the menus in a comfortable silence. The wolf needn’t have bothered - as soon as he saw steak, he was sold.

 

A cheerfully, bubbly brunette waitress bounced up to the table with a wide grin on her face.

 

“Hey guys, I will be your server this evening. Tonight the chef recommends the seared scallops for starters and the T-bone steak for mains. Just the thing to hit the spot for a wolf such as yourself.” Derek was a bit taken back by the wink she threw at him. Thinking on it, her attention the whole time had been focused on him, ignoring the other man across the table from him. Rather than fill him with confidence, the action made him weary. He didn’t like the attention, hell he barely tolerated it from Stiles and he was the adult version of an idiotic sponge.

 

“Just a few cokes for now thanks.” Stiles curtly interjected, an unhappy look written across his face. Still, the waitress seemed undeterred, keeping eye contact with the wolf for as long as she could as she turned to walk away.

 

Derek didn’t realise how loudly he exhaled in relief when she left, deciding to turn his focus on the dragon who sat with his head in his hands, shoulders slumped.

 

“Christ. This is so bad. I mean I brought you here so you would be comfortable and you’re not. I mean, does this place have no standards on who it employs?”

 

“Stiles.” Derek intercepted. “It’s fine. I’m just not used to it. It’s been a long time since I was somewhere where people didn’t know me”

 

Stiles seemed to be fighting with himself. “Listen…just…please remember that I’m what I am. I mean, dragon me is a bit territorial around you. I can’t be held responsible for my actions.”

 

Derek tried to think of ways to settle Stiles, but was interrupted by the return of the source of his unease. A source who had unbuttoned a few buttons of her shirt and was proceeding to make sure Derek had full view of her assets.

“So darlin’, what can I get for you tonight?”

 

Derek cleared his throat, deciding to keep his gaze on Stiles rather than on the cleavage which was coming closer to his face with each second that passed. “Steak. Rare. Very rare.” He ground out as he took a sip of water.

 

“And I will have the sea bass, home wrecker.”

 

At least Stiles had the audacity to look as shocked at his own words as their waitress did, both of them ignoring Derek as he tried to wipe himself down after spitting his water out.

 

“I…I…oh god I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean that. I...you’re not a home wrecker. I’m sure you are a very lovely girl when you aren’t flashing people’s dates. OH MY GOD STILES. I’m sorry. So sorry.”

 

The waitress turned to Derek, almost in hope that he would defend her honor but he was too busy trying to breathe through his laughter to help.

 

“Derek! You are not helping!” The wolf simply waved his hand in their general direction, valiantly trying to reign in his snorts of amusement.

 

“Please ignore him. He is a dragon. They apparently have no brain filter.” Unamused, the waitress turned to leave the panting wolf and a red-faced Stiles. Stiles spent the rest of the time between then till their meals arrived apologizing. However when it became apparent that - rather than seeing Stiles’ irritation as a deterrent - the girl took it as a challenge to show Derek that he could do better, the mood of the date turned.

 

For Stiles, it turned into a setting of jealousy, anger and snide comments.

 

For Derek, it turned into a setting of amusement, hilarity and rib-crushing laughter.

 

He honestly could not remember the last time he laughed so hard. Between Stiles asking for a glass of harlot red wine, or when he had to be escorted from the building when the waitress gave Derek her number when they asked for the bill yelling how “she has psychologically damaged their potential children with her wanton sluttiness.”

 

Either way, Derek in time wouldn’t remember her. He wouldn’t remember the meal.

 

He would remember Stiles and the elation the man gave to his life that night. A joy that seemed to linger rather than dissipate the closer to home they got.

 

Sadly for Derek, he seemed to forget that once he gave Stiles an inch, the dragon would take it and run a mile. He could be forgiven for only realizing once he slammed the door on Stiles after a small, innocent and sudden goodnight-and-thank-you kiss on the lips that seemed more habit then intentional that he would never get rid of the dragon again.

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Derek, honestly I think you are blowing this out of proportion -“

 

“- He has left a deer carcass outside the front door.”

 

“Well, I personally think it is sweet. I like venison.”

 

“Do…you want me to leave you a carcass?!”

 

“No Jord. Just buy me some from the butchers next time you pass by.”

 

Derek sighed to himself, already feeling his annoyance rise with the situation. The very large situation which nobody seems to be focusing on. The situation which still seemed to be leaking blood on their lawn.

 

“I just…I don’t get it.”

 

The large, warm hand that landed on his shoulder tried to lend comfort. All it lent was an urge to break every bone in the phoenix’s body.

 

“What’s not to get? The dragon feels left out.”

 

Derek turned towards Jordan, partly to glare at him, partly in the hope that the action would get him to leave his personal space. “Jesus. All I want is one day to understand something Stiles does and not be left confused. John said the man and the dragon are one and the same…”

 

He ignored the snort of laughter from Laura and the loving gaze Jordan directed at his Alpha before turning to face the disgruntled man. “They are, mostly. But from what everyone has heard, you have accepted the man side of Stil-“

 

“You told!?” Derek complained, part of him wondering why the bond of sibling loyalty had seemed to bypass him and Laura.

 

Laura replied as she started to peel off her nail varnish “Of course I did. I tried to announce it from the patrol car speakers last night after your date but John took it off of me. I want people to know.”

 

Derek held his hand up to silence his sister. “You…I will deal with you later. You.” He turned his hand toward Jordan. “Explain. Quickly.”

 

“Ok, it is as simple as this. They are the same personality wise but there are differences and you know better than most that the dragon part of his brain can take over when frustrated. You have accepted the man-child part of Stiles by going to dinner with him, talking to him and trying to suck his tongue down your throat –.”

 

“That is not what happened. It was a small kiss that only lasted a few seconds-.” Derek tried to interject.

 

“Lies. Such utter, blatant lies. He was trying to eat your face off and you were trying to do the same-.”

 

“Laura. I will end you-.”

 

“Anyway…” Jordan interceded. “You like the man part of Stiles but not the dragon part yet, or so it thinks. It wants you to like all of it: man and animal so it is trying to get your attention. Think of it in reverse, you like somebody so you want them to like you: wolf and man. You know things won’t work out if your special somebody didn’t accept your wolf, it’s the same with his dragon. Only difference is, is that his dragon is more forceful then your wolf. You could control it for longer than Stiles can. It comes part in parcel with being a part of a species so old nobody can even guess when the first one came to be.”

 

Finally, Laura seemed to be on Derek’s side. “So why with the deer?”

 

“Because the dragon is trying to show that he accepts Derek, wolf and all by giving him something his wolf will appreciate. I would guess that if he shows he accepts all sides of Derek, Derek can accept all sides of him.”

 

Sighing in frustration, Derek turned his back on the other two and walked into the house, throwing himself onto the couch and tried to give a valiant attempt at suffocation by pillow over the face.

 

“Derek...” his sisters hesitant tone gave him pause for thought. “All joking aside, are you ok?”

 

He threw the pillow aside, noting that Jordan had left the two siblings to talk. “I don’t know. I’m just tired of being confused all the time.”

 

Laura nodded as she turned to walk out the room, returning a few minutes later. Seating herself gently on top of his outstretched legs, she placed the book Stiles had let him keep on Derek’s stomach.

 

“I understand you are confused. I know Stiles is as well and he is the one causing this whole situation and he doesn’t understand why he is reacting the way he is. Sadly it sometimes happens when two para’s try to get all up in each other – a clash of species and behavior if you will. But when we strip down the complications, it is very simple. Stiles – man and dragon – likes you. They see the good in you. They see how strong you are. More than that, they trust you otherwise that book would be collecting dust in his man-cave. They both want to protect you and they both want to make you happy. When you look at it like that, is what’s happening really so bad?”

 

Derek shrugged, not bothered by the fact he seemed to acting like a teenager. Yet still Laura continued.

 

“Do you like him?”

 

“He is alright in small doses-.”

 

“In Derek-speak, that means he is the love of your life who you cannot even contemplate living without for a single second. So now we need to plan how to get all the bull shit out the way and clear things for you two to work out how to spend the rest of your lives together…”

 

“Laura.” Derek tried to bring some order into his Alphas head. “I don’t know. About any of this. About us. Him and me I mean.”

 

She just looked at him for what felt like minutes but was more than likely less. “Derek, you do realise I have heard you talk more about Stiles in the past week alone then I ever heard you talk about Paige or Kate?”

 

“That’s not fair” Derek argued. “That’s simply because Stiles is annoying.”

 

Laura snorted. “Paige annoyed you. Yet the fact still stands. That and you looked like you were walking on sunshine after your date when you weren’t freaking out about the kiss.” She said before she decided to lay on top of her brother, much like they used to do when they were younger.

 

“I want you happy. I worry about you and it sucks that we can all see that you and Stiles could be happy but you just won’t give yourself a chance.”

 

Derek sighed as he settled further into the couch, the extra weight of his sister embedding him into the fabric as he ran over everything in his head.

 

“So, I need to show the dragon I accept him yeah?”

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

In his defense, he was still trying to get used to being full wolf shift. Hunting pray did need some practice. It may have not been a deer, but Derek felt quite happy with the small pile of rabbits his wolf half had left at the entrance of Stiles’ horde cave for the dragon. He was even more pleased with the finished cabinet which he left inside the cave for Stiles and the dragon to fill with some of his horde collection.


	8. Chapter 8

Things seemed to settle down into a smooth rhythm for the next few weeks. By day, Stiles and Derek worked. Apparently Stiles working within the police department just endeared him even more to the townspeople meaning that 1. Trouble in the town had settled down in fear of upsetting the baby dragon and 2. Stiles was often personally requested to attend callouts ranging from a quarrel between the imp owners of the local joke shop to a jealous wendigo: meaning that work ate significantly into his ‘Stalking Derek time’ – Stiles’ own words.

 

Derek, meanwhile, seemed to be loaded with more commissions then he had ever had before, a fact he was sure was down to his sister and his…dragon? By night - if he and Stiles had nothing planned – he was normally kept company by a pony sized, black dragon who had taken to camping outside his bedroom window. They quickly learnt their lesson when Dragon Stiles tried to get into the house the night after Derek had given him his gift - he was sure Laura was close to crying when an errant Dragon tail smashed into her hand-made lamp she got from a spring break trip to Cabo and broke it so bad no amount of glue was going to fix it (Derek was not upset. The lamp was ugly, tacky and didn’t match the rest of the furniture. He may have slipped Stiles a raw steak a few minutes after Laura had ordered him out the house, tail between his legs and all.)

 

Occasionally, he would bellow up to the wolf in a warped attempt at conversation (and if Derek talked back to him as if the whole situation was normal, then hey, it was only he and Stiles – maybe Laura and Jordan - who knew.) but for the most part the dragon just lay on the grass sleeping until the sun came up and it was time for Stiles to get ready for work.

 

It was a nice balance in between the periodic dates the two of them managed to squeeze in. They didn’t happen often but more than enough for Derek to finally concede that yes, he was dating the sheriff’s son and no Laura, it did not mean that they were one step away from riding off into the Valhalla sunset (even if he had heard through the local valkyries that it was a wonderful place for a romantic break)(Not that he had thought about it. Stiles would just embarrass him).

 

Unfortunately for the wolf, he was related to a sibling who was not only a major gossip but also a firm believer in…. _talking_. Not only _talking_ but _talking_ about _feelings_. She did it when they were younger and wanted to know how Derek felt when Cora painted his bike bright pink, when Paige died to when Kate appeared. She knew he hated it, talking in general, but like many things in the Hale family, Derek’s opinions didn’t matter so he better do what Laura says before she takes matters into her own hands.

 

So through their hours of talking, she wrangled it out of him that Stiles was annoying, Stiles was – at times – a monumental asshole but he liked that. The spazztic boy had somehow gotten under his skin like a disease and Derek’s wasn’t sure there was enough antibacterial wipes or pills to remove him anymore.

 

He was happy getting to know him. He liked the anticipation he got before their dates and wondering what Stiles would do to make him laugh because if there is one thing Stiles Stilinski is apparently a master at, it is making Derek laugh. Honestly he had never dated somebody who could do that. He hadn’t laughed much with Paige and certainly never with Kate.

 

So, yeah. Derek was pretty happy. The dragon managed to make him feel safe while Stiles made him feel free. Something which hadn’t happened in so long.

 

That should have been the first sign that Stiles was going to try and ruin Derek’s new found stability.

 

“Derek, my horde people are having a welcome home dinner for Lydia. Dad and I want you to be there – kinda as an introduction as my other half and my horde piece.”

 

Derek could be forgiven for missing his mouth when he tried to take a bite of the stew he had made for him and Stiles on one of their date nights when the other had dropped the bombshell. Derek thought they had progressed nicely from shifting their date location from a restaurant to his home.

 

Apparently this was too slow for Stiles but, really, this shouldn’t have surprised Derek. The man’s thought speed would put Hermes to shame.

 

Coughing while trying to subtly wipe his face, Derek replied “You sure we are at that point? I mean, I didn’t think…I thought we were just seeing where this goes, having a good time?”

 

Stiles stood, grabbing his empty plate and making to wash it clean in the sink. “Luckily for you, and me actually, Laura warned me that you were a bit emotionally irresponsible so I won’t take offence to how you think this is just a fling. In time, you will realise your mistake and then you can apologise with some flowers from Athena’s and a box of chocolates from Ixcacao’s. But back to the more important issue, Laura and Jordan will both be there so it’s not like you will be alone. Me, Dad, Scotty, Lydia, Kira and you guys.”

 

Derek felt a churning in his gut but pushed it aside for now. “Lydia? As in your ex-flame Lydia?”

 

Stiles scoffed “Ex-flame would imply there had been something between us. But yes, it is the same girl you are thinking of but she is really ni – oh my god, are you growling at me?!”

 

“No.” Stupid dragon man.

 

Stupid dragon man who how had a massive grin splitting his face. “Oh yes sir, yes you were! OH MY GOD YOU’RE JEALOUS!”

 

Normal people - when somebody they are talking to stands and walks out the room - would get the social implication that the conversation is over. Not Stiles. He wouldn’t get it if Derek conjured up a brick wall in-between them. Stiles would just bounce through it with that STUPID smile still intact.

 

“Christ yes you are. Man you have no idea how happy this makes me…” Derek suddenly stopped and turned to face the dragon, a semi offended look on his face. “I mean, I’m not happy that you’re apparently having a Hale version of a mental breakdown but yeah, it’s good that the jealousy thing is not just limited to me. You care Derek!”

 

“Shut up Stiles.”

 

Stiles started to wag his finger at the wolf as he drew closer. “See, I’m taking that to mean ‘of course I care Stiles. I have always cared. I feel threatened by the presence of your past object of affection but I am unable to communicate this outside of eyebrow movement.’ I’m fluent in D. Hale speak now.”

 

Stiles drew the wolf into a quick kiss, ignoring his partner’s stoic form. “You don’t need to worry. What I had for her doesn’t compare to you. Not even a little. Now shut up, Kendra on Top is on.”

 

Just like he pushed aside the feeling he got when he realised Lydia was coming to town, he also pushed aside the slight feeling on ease he got from Stiles’ words. Mostly though, he questioned his taste of dating a dragon with a legit addiction to reality TV who liked to cuddle like an octopus.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“Is it because you are finally seeing John, not as the sad hermit-man of Beacon Hills but as the future son-in-law of his son?”

 

“Shut up Laura.”

 

“Is it because you know if you embarrass yourself in front of his horde, you will be disgraced for the rest of eternity and be a failure to wolf kind?”

 

“Seriously. Shut up.”

 

“Is it because you know you have the table manners of a pig and that if Stiles sees it he will send you from his home and bed forever as he posts his mistake on facebook for the world to see?”

 

“God, he has already seen me eat and we haven’t…..Just be quiet for a minute.”

 

A pair of arms wrapped themselves around his waist, a head appearing over his shoulder as he tried to fix his tie for the millionth time in the space of a few minutes. He slightly leaned back into his sister.

 

“It’s just I haven’t seen you this nervous since you tried to ask Amy to prom.”

 

Derek looked down at the tie, unwilling to meet his sister’s eyes in the mirror. “No. It doesn’t matter.”

 

He heard a sigh as the arms tightened around him. “It does to me. I know you are nervous but it will be fine. If it isn’t? The moment it gets too much we will leave: You me and Jordan. We can come home and pig out on pizza, beer, tequila and wine.” She seemed to contemplate her words for a minute. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. I can easily call them and tell them something.”

 

Derek groaned as he glanced up, taking in the worried look Laura was casting him through the reflection. “This is for you to meet the horde as well…” Suddenly it clicked in his head. “Are you worried too?”

 

“Yeah I suppose. I mean, I like Jordan but it...I’m worried that things will be difficult with him being part of the horde and park of my pack.”

 

Derek turned to give his full attention to his Alpha, brotherly concern rising. “As much as it pains me to say this as it is just going to encourage you further but, talk to me. What’s up?”

 

His sister unlatched herself from him and flung herself on his bed – a bit dramatically if he may add.

 

“I’m worried how the alpha half will handle something she considers hers being part of someone else’s, being considered part of Stiles’ horde over my pack. I don’t want to be selfish but it’s getting to me. I don’t think I can handle being an alpha without a pack.”

 

Derek took a seat next to Laura, who by now had flung her arm over her face. “Is this about me or Jordan?”

 

“Both” she whispered.

 

Reclining down next to Laura, Derek took her hand within his own. “I can’t speak for Jordan but for me…I will always be Hale pack first, Dragons horde next. That doesn’t change and it won’t change.”

 

He pointedly ignored the very ladylike snort she gave him in response but continued to listen. “And what if Stiles has an issue with that, like I might?”

 

He meaningfully looked at her. “Then that is his problem. It doesn’t change anything. We are a pack and we always will be. If it is an issue with you and Jordan then he isn’t the one for you but, and for once actually try to do something I say, don’t panic about it until you properly talk to him about it. It might not even be an issue.”

 

Laura groaned in frustration. “No because that makes me selfish! Why should he have to choose?! Why should you?! Why should I be the cause of you not having your happy ever after?”

 

Derek swore under his breath, honestly he was getting pretty fed up of that phrase. “It won’t be because of you. This isn’t something I will budge on so if Stiles has an issue with it, then that is his problem. We are Hales. That’s the end of it-“

 

He tried to remember the moment of sibling bonding as his elder sister threw herself on top of him, apparently trying to keep him in the pack by suffocating him to death.

 

The memory of the tender moment lasted 2 minutes before they dissipated as Derek threw his sister off of him and he resumed his battle with the ever-evil tie.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

He tried to keep in mind that Laura was just as nervous as he was. He TRIED to remember she had more riding on this dinner then he did and that she was an alpha species going into the home of another. Hell, he even tried to remember she was a girl.

 

But he swore to god that if she kept emitting her mood through the pack bond, he may have to punch her. Sister or not.

 

Luckily for him, by the time she had reached her peak of emotion they had reached John’s door. Derek may be (admittedly) socially retarded but even he knew that greeting the Horde with the sight of him strangling his sister would not create the best first impression. At best, John would arrest him. At worst, Jordan would set him on fire and THEN John would arrest him only for him to be beaten up by the citizens of Beacon Hills before he even reached the cells.

 

So with that thought, Derek deeply inhaled as he took charge and rang the doorbell. For a moment, the noise from inside the house dulled, adding to the tension building on the other side of the door before a shout of ‘The beef isn’t ready yet! This is a disaster!’ broke through the hush. The Hales barely had time to exhale in a silent chuckle before the door was flung open to unveil….not John, Stiles or Jordan.

 

Instead Derek came face to face with a dark haired woman who was potentially the cause of his worry and the woman who his wolf had decided was his mortal enemy.

 

“Oh hey guys! Come in, come in! Sorry about the chaos, John and Stiles are arguing about basting the beef and Jordan was trying to separate Scott and Jackson before he joined the other two in the kitchen. Anyway I’m Kira, nice to meet you.”

 

Derek felt his shoulders relax slightly as Kira’s cheerful demeanor slightly put him at ease, offering her a slight smile in response to her greeting.

 

“Jackson? Jackson Whittemore? Douchemore is here?” Laura questioned while trying to scent the air around Kira. She was not subtle in the slightest.

 

Kira sighed. “Yeah. He is Lydia’s date for the night. Stiles and Scott are so not impressed. Stiles tried to set his coat on fire and Scott tried to pee on his car. John stopped them but we all know this isn’t the end of it. By the way, I’m a Kitsune in case you are wondering…”

 

“Aren’t there only a few of you guys left?” Derek questioned, mood brightening at the fact the prospective she-devil had brought her date.

 

Kira cheerfully nodded. “Yep and most of us are close relations. Mom and Dad are pure breed Kitsune. I mean, I think they were a bit disappointed when they realised I would dilute the pure line with a wolf but hey ho, that’s life.”

 

She lead them into what was the living room to be confronted with the sight of a petite red-head standing between two taller men who looked close to fighting or trying to see whose face could turn a brighter shade of red.

 

“-goodness sakes Scott! That happened in high school! Get over it!” she yelled as the entered.

 

“No” The man who Derek recognized as Scott answered back. “I won’t get over it! Do you know how long I got detention for that? Two months Lydia. Two. Months!”

 

The other man - Jackson - Derek guessed, snorted as he folded his arms across his chest. “Not my problem you and Stilinski were stupid enough to get caught.”

 

“We got caught because you told on us! Anyway you weren’t even invited to this dinner. Stiles is trying to impress his boyfriend and your stupid face will drive him away. Then his alpha sister will try to rip OUR faces off because we upset her younger brother because you decided to gatecrash to try and prove something!”

 

The red-head threw her hands in the air in frustration before finally realizing that they had company. Turning in a way which was so smooth it made Derek want to walk over and trip her up, she cast her gaze over to the two wolves, sizing them up before she introduced herself.

 

“I’m Lydia, You know Scott and this is Jackson. I’m guessing you must be Laura and Derek. Nice to meet you.” With that, she turned towards Scott and Jackson, grabbing their arms and guiding them over to the couch before forcibly seating them down.

 

If Derek didn’t dislike her on basic principle, he would have been impressed. Before he could think of something else to hate about her, Stiles, John and Jordan entered from a decidedly smoky kitchen. Laura relaxed beside him as Jordan bent down to give her a peck on the cheek as Stiles walked up to the other wolf, simply sliding his hand to entwine with the wolfs own.

 

“Everyone this is Derek and Laura, Derek and Laura this is my horde people. But not Jackson. Never Jackson.”

 

“You would be lucky to have me in your stupid collection Stilinski.”

 

Stiles turned to face him. “No. No I wouldn’t. You know why? The dragon doesn’t like lizards, he has a tendency of either stepping on them or turning them into a barbeque. Hey babe.”

 

Stiles turned back to Derek, a hopeful look on his face which quickly diminished when Derek shook his head in disagreement with the pet name. He may like Stiles, but no amount of like with ever make him agreeable to pet names. With a sigh of defeat, Stiles lead Derek to take a seat between him and John, the elder greeting Derek with a welcoming smile and a ‘hello’.

 

With the introductions done with, it seemed to signal the end of the respite in the prior argument which had since rekindled, this time with both Kira and Lydia trying to calm the two raging paras. Briefly casting a glance towards his alpha – only to be met with the sight of her and the phoenix making love eyes at each other – Derek turned to Stiles, hoping for a bit of salvation from the Dragon only to be met with a garbled “I need to check on the beef” before the boy hightailed it out the room, leaving Derek with only John for conversation.

 

John who was laughing beside him. “It’s a bit terrifying isn’t it? I remember the first time I met Claudia’s horde and family. Honestly I tried to think of any reason to leave but you do get used to it. In time. A very long time. It will be fine once they have all got food in them. Seriously, the boys are always over emotional when they are hungry.”

 

Derek gave John a grateful smile. “Thanks for the invite.”

 

The elder man gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. It’s time we all got to know each other better.”

 

After that, they both sat in a comfortable silence, content to listen to the developing argument brewing between the two other guys which had now moved onto the topic of somebody called ‘Allison’ before Stiles called them all in for dinner. Happily for Derek, he was seated between Stiles and Laura. Sadly, he was opposite Jackson, Lydia and Scott. To be fair, he knew he was going to receive a grilling from the horde at some point. He didn’t expect it to happen as soon as he cut into his dinner nor did he expect Stiles to be the one to instigate it.

 

“Did I tell you Lyds that Derek is a full shift wolf? I hear that’s more impressive than being able to shift into a lizard…”

 

“It just comes second nature to Jackson. He doesn’t have to try to shift at all.” Lydia replied.

 

Before Derek could question just what in the hell Stiles was trying to do, he was interrupted by Jordan leaning over Laura to address him. “Stiles and Lydia have a bit of a competitive streak. Just go with it.” He nodded in confirmation before turning back into the conversation, which now included Jackson.

 

“I’m a lawyer Stilinski. A carpenter can’t compete with me.”

 

Stiles snorted as he gently grabbed Derek’s arm before holding it up at face level without any help from the man who was attached to said arm. “See this arm? See these muscles? That’s why he can compete. The only part of your anatomy which gets a decent work out is your mouth.”

 

“That’s nothing, I’m still in peak physical shape. Babe, tell him.”

 

Stiles looked at him, a look of mocking crossing his face “Er babe, don’t tell him.”

 

Now Derek knew that Stiles wasn’t serious when he addressed Lydia as babe, he honestly knew that. Sadly his wolf didn’t get the memo as he let out an involuntary growl directed to the woman sat across from him. It was only Laura’s hand on his knee which brought him back to himself and caused him to stop growling, a sheepish look crossing his face.

 

“Sorry.” Derek apologized quietly.

 

It didn’t take a genius to feel the change of mood filter into the room at Derek’s slip. He could feel the unimpressed gazes of Scott, Lydia and Jackson as Laura’s grip tightened from one of sympathetic comfort to one of annoyance.

 

“It was an accident. His wolf is a bit out of control at the moment with what’s going on.” Laura offered in an attempt of keeping the peace.

 

“Scott doesn’t just randomly growl at people.” Lydia replied snippily.

 

Jordan attempted to help Laura. “That’s because Scott is a bitten para. His connection to his wolf isn’t as strong as a born wolf.”

 

“Doesn’t mean he has the right to snarl at my girlfriend!” Jackson countered.

 

“He didn’t mean it!” Stiles raised his voice at the Kanima.

 

“Guys, please, let’s just forget it and eat some more-” Kira tried to placate everyone but was interrupted by Lydia.

 

“So what is your problem with me?” She directed at Derek, whose discomfort was starting to rise with the volume of the argument. Before he could formulate an answer which didn’t paint him as a total dick-bag (which was harder then he thought), Scott turned to Stiles.

 

“Dude, if he is like this with one of your oldest friends then is this really a good idea? No offence but is it a good idea to have two horde members who don’t get on? What happens when two things which belong to a dragon don’t get on?”

 

“Don’t talk about him like he is an object!” Laura growled, her nail’s starting to lengthen in anger at the perceived slight on her baby brother.

 

“I didn’t mean it like that -” Scott tried to reason, knowing an angry Alpha could potentially be a big issue. “- But he is a horde member.”

 

“No he isn’t! As it stands, he is a member of the Hale pack!”

 

Jackson scoffed, apparently determined to aggravate the situation. “He can’t be both. He is one or the other.”

 

“Just because he is considered part of a horde doesn’t mean he either _has_ to be part of it or that he has to be nice to everyone!” Jordan tried to mediate.

 

“I didn’t even do anything and I got snarled at!” Lydia countered back at the Phoenix, further irritating his girlfriend

 

“HE DIDN’T MEAN IT!” Laura yelled, frustration boiling over as she shrugged off Jordan’s hand which he had placed on her shoulder in a comforting gesture.

 

Scott again directed his questions to Stiles, who by now had his head cradled in his hands with his elbows on the table. “Is it safe for him to be around people if he can’t control his wolf? I mean, I don’t think he is going to attack anyone but is it a cause for concern? Sometimes I get a bit hairier when Kira steals my last bit of steak or when I see her parents for a long period of time or when I think about Allison’s parents for too long. Actually, my sense of smell goes into overdrive when I get yelled at for one of your stupid ideas but I was like, 15 when I last growled at somebody. Is it the same as that?”

 

“Scott. It doesn’t work like that. Not with born paras. You wouldn’t understand…” Kira reasoned.

 

“Why not?” Jackson retorted.

 

“Because you are not one of us. Even Lydia wouldn’t understand and she is a born Banshee. It’s a power she has, not a completely different thing living inside of you. It’s different for us – you and Scott were human until you were suddenly saddled with this other entity inside you. We were born with it, something which we grew up with, developed with and experienced life with. Our emotions are close to theirs and so forth. When one is strongly effected then it can filter onto the other half.”

 

“You know if you hurt my friend, I will hurt you yeah?” Scott asked Derek.

 

“You know if your friend hurts my baby brother, I will hurt him yeah?” Laura countered.

 

“Then why go for me?” Lydia hedged.

 

“Because you were Stiles’ first love. The wolf is threatened by you because he sees Stiles as his, as mine. Because he, it, _me_ , wont share…cant share and the wolf sees you as a risk to what he – I – have with Stiles.” Derek explained.

 

“Well you don’t have to worry about that. Lyds is with me. She wouldn’t even look at somebody at Stilinski twice.”

 

“ _DON’T. Don’t talk about him like that_!” Derek let out an inhuman grown, feeling the wolf creep closer to the edge.

 

“Stiles isn’t yours. You don’t want us to talk about you like you are an object so don’t do the same to him-“

 

“ ** _He is mine and I am his!!_** ” Derek hissed, knowing he was starting to lose the battle for control.

 

A slam of a hand on the table stopped the quarreling as John put a stop to the fighting, rising from his seat.

 

“Stop. Stiles put a lot of effort into this and you are all ruining it. Lydia, yes it was wrong for Derek to react how he did but you know just as well from Jackson that sometimes it’s hard when emotions are involved. Scott, Derek is perfectly safe. Just as safe as you are. Laura, Derek, as much as I hate to admit it if Derek can’t control himself around Lydia, it is an issue.”

 

Derek hung his head as he felt his control slip back into place, despondent that - yet again - something he had done had caused another fight, caused Laura to again take up his fight.

 

He was tired of fighting. So. Very. Tired.

 

His Alpha leant in towards him. “You want to go home?”

 

Derek nodded as he rose, silently turned out the room and walked out the house, not wanting to see anyone’s faces. Least of all Stiles. Only a few moments later, Laura entered the passenger side. Surprisingly, Jordan had left with the Hales and was settling down in the back of the car. With a heavy sigh, Derek turned on the ignition and drove the car back to the preserve, knowing he was stupid for getting his hopes up that this might have been the time where things finally worked out for him.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

As promised, Laura pilled him with pizza, beer, tequila and wine once they got back to the house and suffice to say, the Hale pack were on the way to hammered. While Derek had adopted the couch all to himself, Laura and Jordan (who had been dubbed an ‘honorary Hale pack member pending relationship development’ by the alpha) had commandeered the love seat opposite.

 

“So…remind me again why we left?” Jordan asked, uncaring that his exaggerated arm movements were spilling beer all over their expensive orthros-fur rug.

 

Derek shrugged, feeling loose and relaxed from all the alcohol which was temporarily making him forget the disaster of a night. “What’s’a point? Wouldn’a worked anyway. His horde people mean the world to Stiles and we just won’t work together. Me and the horde. Me and him. Whatever.”

 

Jordan fixed a squinty gaze at Laura. She seemed to find it cute, Derek thought that it made Jordan look like he was experiencing toilet issues. “What about me?”

 

Laura snorted as she chugged back her beer. “Now darlin’, tonight is to focus on Derek’s fuck-up of a night. Stop trying to steal his thunder. We will talk about you tomorrow.”

 

She was met with a middle salute from Derek and a flick on the forehead from Jordan. “S’not what I meant. Will this be an issue for us? Me being part of the pack?”

 

Laura and Derek stilled as Laura seemed to take the question seriously. “You can do what you want, be part of what you want. Happy?”

 

She settled back, seeming to decide that the conversation was over.

 

“And if I want to be part of the pack?” a quiet voice rose from the silence. Derek snorted. Why would anybody want to be part of their pack? Laura was like a tornado in deputy uniform and Derek hated anyone who breathed. And people who didn’t, come to think of it.

 

Laura seemed to share his sentiments. “Why? We are fucked up pack. Seriously, don’t know anyone who is a pack of two and I use that term loosely because half the time I don’t consider my brother as a person. Just an annoying area of space.”

 

“Because you are here?” Jordan answered, somehow giving off the air of sobriety when Derek knew for a fact he was just as wasted as the other two.

 

“…if that was a proposal to my sister, your timing is beyond bad.”

 

Laura sent him a vicious glare – more vicious then a drunkard should be capable of – as Jordan replied. “I can be part of Stiles’ horde, but a member of the pack. Stiles will be protective but…that protection will extend to the whole Hale pack. It already is to be honest so it makes transferring from horde to pack that much simpler.”

 

The vicious look quickly changed to an expression of awe. “How do you know this?” Laura asked, hope coming through the alpha link.

 

Jordan shrugged, ignoring that the action nearly sent him and Laura flying off of the seat. “I asked him.”

 

Derek was dumbfounded. “You…you just asked him?”

 

“Yep. Told him where I stood, that I would leave the horde if I couldn’t be part of the pack and that’s what he said, I can be both.”

 

Laura pressed a kiss to the phoenix’s lips. “You don’t even have to ask.” She turned around to give an excited grin to her brother. “See? Told you that you were panicking over nothing! Once you get over your issues with Lydia, you and Stiles can totally make this work-” She was halted by a sharp intake of air from the man next to her.

 

Slowly turning her head, she gave Jordan a suspicious look. “They can totally make it work, right?”

 

He hesitated in his reply. “I’m….I’m not sure Laura. I’m just a simple horde member. Stiles and the dragon recognize that, as a person, I can go where and be with who I want. That’s how dragons can accept other living creatures into their horde, they don’t consider us a part of their collection the way they do a book or a ruby. We are the same but different at the time-“

 

“Well then he can do the same for my broth-“

 

“The difference is” Jordan interrupted. “Derek is his horde piece. That makes it different. Hun, you don’t realise how rare it is for a horde piece to even be another living person. Like, we are totally going on guesswork here. The only other dragon who took a person as a horde piece was Stiles’ mother. A human who had no connections apart from blood family – something which doesn’t clash too badly. Parents expect their children’s allegiances and priorities to change from them to their other half. That’s life. Now you have a dragon whose horde piece is not only a para but one with an alpha and a pack. Whose basic instincts are going to be towards that pack and that alpha. One whose alpha is also his sister. Stiles might be able to accept that on, some level, Laura and the Hale pack will be a priority but the dragon? That might not. For the dragon, you are everything to it and to try and reason with it that he is not everything to you? On every level? That could be a major problem.”

 

Derek scoffed. “I think you are over exaggerating my importance in his life…”

 

“Stiles would give up his whole horde for you.”

 

“And you know this how?”

 

“He told me. He told everyone last night before you came to dinner.”

 

Shit. The shocked look mirrored on his sister’s face said she felt the same.

 

“Wha…The…Then what the hell was all that at dinner?! All the arguing and the questions which – yes Derek played a part in but that is so not the point!” Laura disputed once the surprise had finally dissipated.

 

“I don’t know. Remember Stiles can be a bit heavy with the drama at times, maybe they thought this was one of those times? Guys, come on, it has to be a shock to them. To hear that their dragon would give them all up for this guy that they don’t know. They have known each other for years. Hell Stiles, Scott, Lydia and Jackson all met in kindergarten. You would be the same if Laura was going to relinquish the alpha role for me and you hadn’t have met me by that point, right?” Derek nodded in agreement, realising what the rest of the horde must have felt.

 

Sighing to himself, Derek decided to impart some words before he tried to make himself pass out thanks to Dionysus’s finest red wine. “Doesn’t matter. Not anymore. It won’t work. He won’t accept me as a pack member and I won’t leave. Tis all there is too it.”

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cheers again for all the support. The next chapter will be the last folks

Derek woke the next morning with a pounding head and a sick feeling that he wasn’t too sure was solely the result of alcohol. As a result, he decided it was in his best interests to stay in bed for the rest of the day. Fortunately, Laura and Jordan seemed to be in a similar state if indicated by the lack of noise circulating throughout the house. The day seemed to pass as Derek dozed between bouts of sleep from his little cocoon of duvets, pain and despair until it seemed that even Laura was recovered enough to think Derek should be getting out of his fortress of solitude.

 

As he blinked open his blurry eyes it took him a second to realise that, at some point last night Laura must have dyed her hair from black to red. And also shrunk down a few inches. And was apparently joined by somebody who was of Asian decent.

 

“Why are you here? Did Laura let you in?” Derek asked as he tried to battle with the pain radiating within his brain.

 

“No, Jordan did.” Lydia answered as Kira handed Derek a greenish-tint drink.

 

“Classic Japanese hangover cure. Trust me, works a charm.” She offered helpfully as Derek winced at the aftertaste. He decided to ask her for the recipe after a few minutes when he could feel the pain die down.

 

“We will let you get dressed and will meet you down stairs. Don’t dawdle, I have a hair appointment at two and Jackson is looking after Prada for me. She hates him.” Lydia demanded as she and Kira turned and walked out the room, leaving Derek starting at the wide open door in a state of shock; partly at the girls, partly at the effectiveness of the drink.

 

The girls had settled themselves down at the kitchen table by the time Derek had stumbled down the staircase, Kira greeting him with a sunny smile.

 

“Has it worked?”

 

Derek replied to the Kitsune. “Yeah actually, really well. Feels like I didn’t attempt to drink a liquor store last night.” He sat opposite the girls and nodded in thanks when Lydia handed him a warm cup of coffee.

 

“So…” Kira started. “Last night. Think we can all agree it was a mess.” Lydia and Derek nodded in agreement as Lydia fixed her gaze upon the lone wolf.

 

“Do you care for him?” He had to give the banshee a modicum of respect for her ability to get straight to the point.

 

“Yes but-“

 

“Because you know you would be lucky to have him yes?”

 

Kira elbowed Lydia, casting her a hapless look. “We agreed we would be nice about this. It’s just that we care for Stiles as a friend, we just want to know if you are as into this as he is.” She directed the last part towards the wolf.

 

“I mean” Lydia interrupted. “You know how fortunate you are? To even be considered to be part of a dragon’s horde?”

 

“I don’t care about being part of his horde.” Derek stated. “I never did. I get why it’s a good thing and I do appreciate the…benefits you get from it but it isn’t the be all and end all for me. It never was. Not enough to give up my pack.”

 

Kira squinted in confusion. “Who said you would have to give up the pack? If anything, that’s what upset Stiles most last night. He would never ask you to do that.”

 

Derek shrugged his shoulders in reply, not sure how to answer. If he were being honest with himself, he (and to an extent Laura) had just assumed he couldn’t be both. In their species, you can’t be a member of two packs. He assumed it would be the same with a dragon’s horde but then again, being a member of a horde was rare meaning information about horde politics was even rarer.

 

Last night when Jordan reveled he could be a member of both, the drink and morose mood dampened the little bit of spark Derek had that, maybe, this could work. That spark which was now not weighed down by the events of last night, alcohol and sorrow reignited.

 

“Why didn’t you just ask Stiles?” the Kitsune asked, again with Derek struggling to formulate an answer.

 

“You are scared, aren’t you?” Lydia answered for him. The resulting silence seemed to speak volumes.

 

The banshee leaned in closer to Derek. “I get it. Afraid to say something that might result in an answer you don’t like, an answer that could ruin everything and leave you with nothing. I really do.”

 

She stood, helped herself to a glass of wine, reclaiming her seat before continuing. “I should probably explain: me, Jacks, Stiles and Scott. Last night…it wasn’t all just about you, the tension. Jacks and I dated in high school. We were like THE power couple whereas Stiles and Scott were more loners. The three boys never got on. Jacks thought he was a god, Stiles lived to wind him up and Scott – once he was bitten – just seemed to be better than Jacks at everything so to say things were bad between them was an understatement. The boys haven’t really ever gotten over that. It was made worse by how Stiles felt about me. Jacks didn’t like it, didn’t like that this magical, rare para was in love with his girlfriend.”

 

She paused to take a big gulp of her drink.

 

“I was…obsessed with being popular at school. Being seen as somebody who everyone wanted to be, who had everything and to do that, I needed Jacks. I needed to be with him. That’s how it started anyway. So to do that I played the ditsy, vapid air head. Over time, I saw a different side to Jackson so instead of pretending to love him, I actually did. But by that time I was so immersed in the person I invented, I didn’t know how to show him the person who I was. I was…terrified that if I let him know who I really was, he would leave me. Jacks, back then, wasn’t a very nice person to everyone else. He had his own battles but I saw the good man that was behind the ‘monster’. The point is he was my first love, my only love and at that time I would have hidden everything, said anything just to keep the stability and to keep him with me. So when I say I understand why you didn’t want to ask Stiles, I get it.”

 

“What happened in the end?” Derek asked, warming to the red-head next to him.

 

“When Jackson got older, he struggled with the Kinama side of himself. Between that and the situation he created for himself at school it just got too much. We broke up and he left. A few years ago, we got back in contact. We both grew up and got to know each other again, the real us. I didn’t hide who I was and neither did he. When the time was right, Jacks moved back to the states and we decided to give it another shot. Last night was the first time the guys had seen Jacks since school. I personally had hoped it would have gone a little better than it did…”

 

“Was it worth it?” Kira asked, seeming to be as emerged in Lydia’s tale as Derek was.

 

“Yes.” She replied with no hesitation. “It was all worth it. The way he makes me feel, then and now, is everything. If we hadn’t gone through what we did when we were younger then we wouldn’t be where we are now.”

 

Kira gasped in a semi-over dramatic way as she looked towards Derek. “Aww Stiles is your Jackson!”

 

“Please…never refer to him as that again.” He may not have known Jackson that well, but his first impression did indicate that the man was still a dick.

 

Lydia straightened herself out as she polished off the rest of her drink. “So now you know, Stiles won’t make you leave the pack and last night wasn’t fully down to you. Yes, some of it was. The horde is protective over Stiles the same way your sister is over you and, yes, I get why you felt about me the way you did. I would hope that after this, you and your wolf feel a bit more settled. Jacks is my end-game. Not Stiles. No offence but it would never be Stiles. Anything else we need to cover?”

Kira raised her hand in the air. “If this is something Derek actually wants?”

 

“I do. I think.” He stated, not sure what the turning point was for him. Might have been the realization that Stiles wouldn’t make him chose. Might have been the tale Lydia had imparted. Might have been that he had met the horde and somehow survived and was no longer thinking with a drunken head.

 

Mostly it could have been the fact that he knew Laura would be ok. She was no longer alone but had somebody who would stand by her and protect her when Derek couldn’t.

 

He had somebody who cared for him, who wanted what was best for him.

 

A gentle hand encased his own. “It’s time to move on Derek. Not forget but start to build a life for yourself, even if that doesn’t involve Stiles. Show everyone who doubted you that you are better than them, because you are.” Kira offered, her grip tightening around the wolf’s hand.

 

“Though if you do want to be with Stiles, you are going to have to make it up to him. You did - after all - just walk out of his house after he put in a lot of effort into dinner.”

 

“Yeah” Kira sighed. “That was a bit of a dick move.”

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Derek stared across the lake, the peacefulness giving him time to think and process. He was being truthful the other night when he admitted he was tired of fighting. Everything just seemed to be one, big battle.

 

But now - in this tranquil setting - he could admit that recently the thing he was fighting against was himself.

 

More than anything, Stiles made him feel normal. Like the bad things in life weren’t so bad anymore. Maybe now was the time to ignore his inner doubt and pessimistic nature and take the chance on them. He trusted the dragon on the same level he trusted Laura, more then he trusted himself if truth be told. If things didn’t work out? He would still have Laura, he would still have his pack.

 

If he didn’t try, what would he have? His pack and regret. If he tried and it worked, what would he have? Everything.

 

With the decision made, he looked around his setting. Not in a contemplative mood this time but with an idea forming instead.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

It had been two weeks since the ill-fated dinner and if there is one thing Derek had learned in that time was that Dragons could hold a grudge for a long time.

 

He knew Stiles was upset with him – honestly if the situation was reversed he would feel the same – and he knew it would take a lot to placate him, but he hadn’t quite anticipated just how much he had saddened Stiles. At least with his efforts to win Stiles over, he had somehow gained the respect and tentative friendship of the horde: including both John and Scott.

 

John quite often came over to spend time with Derek while he worked on his project, often offering to help. Derek kindly thanked him but knew he had to do this himself. Between that and trying to find gifts and peace offerings which Stiles could add to his horde often took up enough time that Derek hardly had a spare moment to feel sorry for himself. Though he was thankful for the advice Scott and Lydia gave him in what would appeal to Stiles – both with the gifts and the project.

 

Again, in a strange parallel to previous events, on the night Derek found himself shifted into a full wolf who had decided to camp out in front of the house Stiles rented. Every single night. Unlike the dragon, he didn’t try to call out to the other man, instead he was just content to settle down on the front lawn and sleep until the morning hit. Derek knew Stiles was aware of what he was doing after the man started to leave him plates of food outside the front door but still, he never saw the man himself. It frustrated him but he knew, he had to let Stiles decide in his own time.

 

Maybe he had pushed Stiles too far. His inability to commit with his own social issues may have just made the Dragon decide that it was too much. But he wouldn’t stop until he had a clear answer, the hope that they could work through it pushing him to keep trying.

 

He was working on his project when he heard his phone vibrating in his jacket pocket which he had placed on a tree stump not far from where he was. Everyone had got the message by now that during the day Derek was unlikely to answer, too focused on what he was doing. However after the third straight call, even Derek had to concede that it had to be an emergency. Or Stiles.

 

With that thought, Derek sprinted to his phone, not even checking the caller ID as he made the effort to not smash his phone in his panic.

 

“Hello!?” he answered with urgency, slightly disappointed with the female tone which answered him.

“Hello, Derek?! It’s Kira. You need to get into town, like now.”

 

Oh god, Laura.

 

“What’s happened? Is Laura ok?”

 

“Laura is fine. Look something happened, a group of behemoths tried to rob one of the stores. John and Laura responded to the call but something happened and someone shot him. Please Derek, Stiles has gone ballistic. He is going to level the town. He isn’t thinking clearly and…and the dragon only gets that somebody hurt his horde. Shit Derek, we have all tried but he won’t listen to anyone.”

 

“Is John ok?” Derek asked. He liked the other man and felt gutted at the thought of something bad happening to him.

 

“He’s….he’s stable at the moment. It was touch and go for a while but they have him stabilized. Please Derek, we really think Stiles could hurt somebody.”

 

Derek didn’t even think as he hung up, the wolf overtaking him as he shifted and sprinted towards Beacon Hills, no thought other than getting to his Dragon. Last time he had a confrontation with Stiles similar to this, the sorrowful bellows echoed throughout the town. This time the air was filled with roars of anger. As he ran closer to the town limits, he could feel the wolf react to the dragon’s distress. Pushing himself faster, he broke into the town. Now not only were there sounds of Stiles but ones of distressed townsfolk, trying to plicate the dragon while voicing their own fear. He could pick out Scott, Lydia, Kira and even Jackson as they attempted to calm Stiles down, a rumble of fury was their reply.

 

Finally making it to the area where to commotion was foremost, Derek saw Stiles – fully shifted with flames flickering intermediately from his open mouth – slowly stalking towards a crowd of people who were cornered between the rampaging dragon and a building. On closer inspection, he recognized the mass as the coven who had argued with him and John the last time Stiles had transformed in town. It seemed to be moments between seeing this from a distance to Derek transforming back to his human body, stood between an irate Stiles and the whimpering women. He had a brief thought of Stiles frying him alive before he went with the belief that Stiles, despite how angry he was, would never hurt him.

 

A thought that held true when the dragon seemed to hesitate a bit before trying to move around Derek, only for the wolf to mirror his movements with his hands held forward in a calming gesture.

 

“Stiles, I know you can hear me and I know you are angry but you need to stop this before you do something that you can’t change.”

 

More fire bellowed out of the dragon’s mouth as he shifted his weight from foot to foot, agitation growing.

 

“Please Stiles. I get it. I really do. The…blind anger when someone you care about is hurt. When something happens and you don’t know what to do, how to deal with it. You know this, you know I know what I am talking about. But this isn’t the way.”

 

His heart dropped as the dragon lowered itself slightly, looking like it was about to charge whether Derek was in the way or not.

 

“Stiles stop! These people are innocent! They are misguided idiots but they are innocent. Think of your dad, he is going to get better then he will have to live with the guilt that he had a part to play in this. Think of your horde. Think of the people you will be leaving behind because trust me, if you go down this route there will be no way back. Dragon or not.”

 

If anything the dragon seemed to grow larger before his eyes, wings out full span. Derek could feel his voice starting to crack, panicking that he may not be able to stop this.

 

“Just…come back. Come back and we can go and see your dad together. We can figure all this out and we can – we can make something special. But not if you do this. Please, don’t leave them and don’t leave me. But I’m not moving. You want these people, you go through me.”

 

His breath hitched in his throat as he seemed to have a standstill with the dragon. The stand-off seemed to last for hours until Derek could see the change as the dragon shifted from an animal to a man. Once Stiles was back to human, Derek exhaled in relief.

 

Stiles seemed to be in a daze, eyes unfocused as he tried to regain his bearings. Derek took a step forward only to see that, with every step he took, Stiles retreated. He felt something ache in his chest as Stiles shook himself, turning to face Scott.

 

“Dad?” he asked, voice sounding like he had gargled glass.

 

Scott gave him a gentle smile. “He’s going to be ok.”

 

Stiles nodded as he turned towards his horde, turning away from Derek as he walked forward, blindly accepting the blanket Lydia offered him to cover his modesty. Without even a glance back, he walked down the street, the road leading to the hospital.

 

Derek jumped when he felt a blanket wrap around his shoulders, not realizing that Laura and Jordan had joined the gathering and were now blanketing him on each shoulder.

 

“Let’s go home.” His sister whispered from where she now rested her head on his shoulder. Derek simply nodded in agreement, content to let his pack guide him to the car.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so we have reached the end. I have re-gone through everything so I hope I have fixed all the mistakes (probably not, lets be honest.) 
> 
> Again, thank you xx

It had been a month since John’s shooting and thankfully, the horde and the pack had kept Derek informed of his progress and recovery. He had yet to hear from Stiles but as Scott had told him during one of their weekly dinner nights, his focus was fully on his dad.

 

Derek couldn’t bring himself to resent the dragon for it. He would do the same for Laura. But still, the radio silence from Stiles stung. Even just a simple message, an ‘I’m ok’ would be good enough at this point. More than he was hurt though, he was worried. Despite everyone telling him Stiles was ok, it wouldn’t be good enough until he heard it from the man himself.

 

Laura told him that the town had been understanding of Stiles’ reaction after things had calmed down. Granted the coven gave him a wide berth but most others, out of loyalty to John and all he had done for the town, had let the incident pass. If anything, they told outside folk about what had happened in the hopes of preventing the same situation arising again. Beacon Hills was now known within the country as an ‘untouchable’ town, a town under the protection of a dragon.

 

Another side effect of the incident was that, apparently, Derek himself had taken on a local celebrity status. No longer the cursed wolf. No now he was the one who put himself in harm’s way to protect the town and its people. It seemed to be that that one event was enough to wipe out the actions of the fire.

 

Laura suggested he use this new found acceptance to live a little. Derek decided to ignore everything and focus on his project – though he couldn’t complain about the increase in business he received due to the increase in commissions which had come through once it was unveiled just who was behind the business. Apparently everybody wanted a bit of work hand-made by the defender of the town. Jordan allegedly had to settle a fight between two women: one of who argued that they had one of Derek’s pieces before he was even popular (supposedly the words “true fan” had been shouted at some point.)

 

Derek walked down the now familiar trail which led to the lakeside, deciding to take a break from the pack house. There was only so much of a loved-up sister he could handle. It was his new favorite place to be, his place to just sit and think. It held significance to him. It was where he decided to pull his head out his ass and was the place where he decided to change his life.

 

During the time immediately after the incident, Derek had come to the realization that while he wanted to be a better person for Stiles, he also wanted to be one for himself. Even if Stiles decided that he wasn’t worth taking the chance on, he wasn’t prepared to go back to his old life. He wanted to be a part of something, he wanted to build a life. So as a result, some of the focus he had on developing what was between himself and Stiles shifted to just developing himself – resulting in a slight modification to his close-to-finished project.

 

He honestly thought Laura was going to cry the day he told her and Jordan that he had booked himself a therapist appointment.

 

He lost track of time, as per usual, as he sat on the lake edge. His own little haven so he was surprised when another person seated themselves down next to him. Even more so when the other man seemed content to share in the silence and tranquility.

 

Derek finally initiated conversation. “How is your dad doing?”

 

Stiles exhaled before responding. “He’s doing well. Finally out of the chair and moving about on his own. Still moaning about his ultra-healthy diet but hey ho you get shot, you suffer the consequences. I never thanked you for putting in the ramps for his temporary wheels so…thanks.”

 

Derek nodded, a ‘you’re welcome’ implied in the action. “And you? How are you?”

 

“Yeah I’m getting there. Things were a bit…bad for a while but it’s starting to level out.”

 

There was a brief respite from the conversation before Stiles spoke.

 

“I just want to say thank you. For what you did. I don’t remember it, not really. It was like a red mist then next thing I know I’m sat by dad in the hospital, wrapped in a blanket with kids trying to give me gifts for the ‘nice wolf-man’. They are in my house by the way. So yeah, everyone told me what you did so again thanks.”

 

“It’s ok.” Derek countered. “Was the least I could do, after everything that happened before.”

 

“I thought you had given up on us, when you left.” Stiles whispered, refusing to look at Derek after the other man turned to face him. “You just walked out and I thought ‘this is it’. I was so…not angry but annoyed?...yeah annoyed that you just seemed to give up the moment things got bad. It hurt. It hurt to stay away and it hurt to realise that what I thought could have been something good just fell apart. Then you started sending gifts and everything and I just thought ‘what’s the point?’, my hurt left and all I was left with was annoyance. At you. At everyone really. But then things just went bad but I still couldn’t let go. It was like -“

 

“- like you still didn’t want to let go of the idea of what could have been? For what it’s worth, I am sorry. I was a dick and I shouldn’t have walked out like I did.” Derek interrupted, for Stiles to nod in agreement.

 

Derek bumped his shoulder with Stiles’s own to get his attention. When the dragon was looking at him, Derek pointed across the lake to a building on the other side. It was a wooden cabin, nothing too brazen but something that just seemed to fit into the landscape.

 

“That’s….nice Derek. Not sure of your point but yeah, it’s a nice building. Peaceful.”

 

Derek snorted. “It’s mine.”

 

“Oh.” Stiles seemed to be surprised. “I didn’t realise you guys had a cabin out here...”

 

“We didn’t.” Derek supplied. “I built it. For me. For us.”

 

He carried on when it didn’t seem like the dragon would offer a reply to the statement that the wolf had grafted them a home, even when it seemed like there wasn’t a future for them anymore.

 

“Well the idea was it was meant to be for us. There is a dirt track which connects to the road so we could get the cars up, and it’s not far from your horde chambers. Like literally, it is just on the other side of this stretch of wood so about a three minute walk away. I decided on four bedrooms so that your horde could stay over anytime they wanted or you could have used one of the rooms as your mini horde-room. Just the things you really like. But it doesn’t matter, even if things don’t work out I think I’m just going to move in anyway.”

 

“Sister driving you crazy?” Stiles guessed, a hint of amusement written across his features.

 

“Yes. I’m sure she and Jordan are thinking about moving in together and I’m not going to share the house with them. That’s a bit too much, even for me.”

 

“So…you’re just going to live in that cabin? All by yourself?”

 

Derek nodded. “Looks like.”

 

Stiles seemed to just stare at Derek for a moment, lost in thought before he got a cheeky look on his face. “I personally think that is a horrible idea.”

 

The wolf snorted as he leant back to recline on his arms. “Oh you do, do you?”

 

“Yep.” Stiles nodded enthusiastically. “I mean, let’s face it, your daily life decisions are often very bad. You wouldn’t survive a week.”

 

“Hmm.” Derek tilted his head to the side in faux-contemplation. “I suppose you have a point. But then again, it would be a shame to let it go to waste. So what do you suggest, oh wise dragon?”

 

“Well, in my all-knowing wisdom, I would firmly suggest that you get yourself a roommate. Someone who can save you from yourself.”

 

The wolf laughed for the first time in what felt like months. “True. I heard from Kira that her manticore friend is looking for a room-“

 

“No, you don’t want to live with one of those. They smell and have no sense of personal space. No you want somebody who is more of an old style para. Possibly one who was a keen interest in collectable items? Maybe somebody who is a kick ass baker?”

 

“Know anyone?”

 

Stiles’ smile switched from a mischievous grin to a sweet laugh. “I may know of someone. After all, he will totally be saving you. I guess that is a sacrifice he could make.”

 

Suddenly, Stiles jumped up and grabbed Derek to pull him up as well. The wolf barely had time to sort himself out before he was having to catch the other man as he leapt up and tried to climb him like a tree, lips firmly attached to his own.

 

Derek barely had time to enjoy himself before the dragon lowered himself and began sprinting around the lake edge, towards the cabin.

 

“What are you doing?” Derek called, feeling like he was basking in the sun at the cheerful expression Stiles was giving him as he turned around, still jogging. “Going to check out our new home bitch. Come on, I’ve got things to plan, shit to buy, horde stuff to move in!!”

So it is safe to say Stiles liked his gift, Derek made his intentions towards the dragon clear and the horde was beyond happy to no longer deal with their drama.

 

Until they argued about the colour system for their bedroom.

 

Stiles sulked for a week when his own horde sided with his horde piece instead of him.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Derek reclined on the veranda, a cold beer in hand as he waited for everyone to arrive. Business was at an all-time high, meaning that for the past few weeks he had been away from home from sunrise to late into the night. But not tonight. Tonight was a celebration.

 

His partner groaned as he lowered himself onto the second chair, sighing as he stole Derek’s beer and stole a sip before handing it back.

 

“Everything sorted?” the wolf asked.

 

“Yep, everything has been put away and all the food and decorations are done. I locked the horde room, just to be safe.”

 

They had learnt their lesson after the last party they had. Derek had the idea that Stiles could adapt one of the spare rooms into a miniature horde room where as Stiles had decided to use the important bits of his collection to decorate their house. Horde collections were everywhere, each with their own place. However after the last party, Scott had gotten a bit too drunk and when he and Kira decided to re-create the dirty dancing lift, it resulted in them accidently smashing the picture frame Derek had made Stiles for their third anniversary. Stiles cried, Derek made everyone leave and Scott had returned the next day to try and glue it back together. He did a decent job if you included gluing a bit of the frame to his own face. So yes, now everything that was considered to be part of the horde had been locked away into one of the rooms.

 

Derek was roused from his musings as Stiles nudged him on the arm. “You sorted for next week? Passport? Tickets? Clean underwear?”

 

Derek snorted. This had been going on for weeks. For Stiles’ birthday, the horde and pack had clumped together to send Stiles and Derek to Iceland to visit another dragon whom Stiles had started to talk to online. It may not be his mom to give him advice, but for Stiles it was good enough. Even though Derek refused to let Stiles let his dragon fly them to Iceland. Apparently asking a dragon to fly on a plane was a slap in the face. An insult to wings. For once, Derek won the argument.

 

The rumble of cars approaching the house signified the start of the party and soon enough, the cabin was filled with everyone and, as per usual, the gatherings were filled with drink, food and arguments. Again, as was customary, half way through the night Derek escaped for a bit of quiet.

 

Don’t get him wrong, Derek had grown close to the horde. Surprisingly there seemed to be a team of Stiles, Scott and Lydia and another of Derek, Kira and Jackson. Nobody is quite sure how their little sub-group came about – least of all Derek and Jackson but somehow they bonded. For Derek and Kira, it was easier to understand the closeness. Back when he and Stiles decided to give things a shot, Derek and Kira set up a weekly spar date. Kira taught Derek about sword-play whereas Derek taught Kira a more hand-to-hand combat technique.

 

At the present moment, Derek was quite happy eating his plate of finger-food as Jackson and Scott wrestled to see just who was the greatest wrestler of all time. (There was no competition. It was Derek. He proved it to them over two years ago.). He wasn’t surprised when Laura joined him on the veranda.

 

“No. You cannot have any of my food.”

 

“You can’t deny a preggers woman food. Goes against my human rights. This is my party anyway. I’m the guest of honor”

 

Derek continued to hold his food away from the reach of his fat sister. “Party is for my yet-to-be-born nephew. He is the guest of honor. You are just his transportation.”

 

Laura argued to the point of tears that she didn’t want a baby shower. She just wanted one last pack blow out before she was ‘forever tied to the kitchen sink like Cinderella’ (Derek would just like to point out that both Jordan and John had worked out a way for Laura to go back to work whenever she wanted, in a way that there would always be one parent at home with their kid. Even Stiles offered to set up a crèche in his horde chamber for his future nephew. Derek said no. Chances are if the kid went into Stiles horde chamber, Stiles may never let him leave.).

 

Derek caved after a lot of foot stamping and threats containing the words ‘my husband’ and ‘fire’ as he handed his plate over to his apparently starving sister.

 

“You coming into town for a few drinks?” she asked with a mouth full of food – making Derek wonder just how she managed to convince Jordan she was suitable wife material. He shook his head in a negative. Things may have improved in the relationship between Derek and the town, but while they seemed to be able to forget the years before Stiles, Derek couldn’t. Granted, on the occasion when he did leave the preserve, he was nice to people but that’s as far as it extended. Not that you would know it from the tales that Stiles tells him on a weekly basis.

 

Long gone are the times where Stiles was warned off of Derek. No, now he was explicitly told that ‘he better be looking after that nice young wolf that he has’. The local coven even sends Stiles home with a large box of meat every fortnight. Stiles swore blind one time that one of the younger coven members was giving him the stinkeye because he had captured the strong, rugged wolfs heart – the coven members sometimes forgot dragons have amazing hearing.

 

So all in all, things were good. The horde was happy, the Hale-Parrish pack was expanding and Derek had his own little dragon.

 

Who wasn’t so little anymore.

 

No joke. Bigger than a house.


End file.
